Jazz Suite Inspired by Dylan Thomas's "Under Milk Wood"

Jazz Suite Inspired by Dylan Thomas's "Under Milk Wood" is an album by the English pianist Stan Tracey and his quartet, that was released by the Columbia subsidiary of EMI in 1965. The music was written in response to the 1953 BBC radio play Under Milk Wood, by the Welsh poet Dylan Thomas. It has often been cited as one of the best jazz recordings made in the United Kingdom.[3]

Jazz Suite Inspired by Dylan Thomas's "Under Milk Wood"
Soundtrack album by
The Stan Tracey Quartet
Released1965
RecordedMarch 14, 1965
StudioLansdowne Studios, London
GenreJazz
Length40:46
LabelColumbia, Steam,
Blue Note Records, Jazzizit, ReSteamed
Stan Tracey chronology
Little Klunk
(1959)		 Jazz Suite Inspired by Dylan Thomas's "Under Milk Wood"
(1965)		 Laughin’ and Scratchin’
(1965)
Alternative cover
2010 reissue on ReSteamed Records
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
BBC Music Magazine[1]
Tom HullA[2]

Reception

In a review of the album for BBC Music Magazine, Chris Parker wrote: "Tracey’s startlingly percussive, eccentric piano style and his close rapport with tenorman Bobby Wellins do bring Thelonious Monk and Charlie Rouse to mind, but the cogent pungency of the compositions (in catchy mid-tempo tunes or in haunting ballads like ‘Starless and Bible Black’ and the title-track) is all his own".[1]

In a series of articles for The Guardian newspaper titled "50 great moments in jazz", John Fordham wrote of the album: "Under Milk Wood was an evocative collection of sparky themes inspired by the Dylan Thomas radio play (it's sometimes performed with a narrator reading the parts). And thanks to Tracey's sparing piano and Wellins's softly hooting sax, the rippling tone-poem 'Starless and Bible Black' is widely acclaimed as one of the great jazz performances".[4]

Release history

Since the original 1965 mono LP on Columbia, the album has been released on a number of labels, including Blue Note. The album was reissued in 2010 on his son, Clark Tracey's ReSteamed Records label,[5] as "Under Milk Wood: Jazz Suite". A live version was recorded in 1976 on RCA records, which included a voice narration from the Welsh actor, Donald Houston.

Track listing

All compositions by Stan Tracey.

  1. "Cockle Row"  – 6:50
  2. "Starless and Bible Black"  – 3:45
  3. "I Lost My Step in Nantucket"  – 3:15
  4. "No Good Boyo"  – 5:00
  5. "Penpals"  – 3:45
  6. "Llareggub"  – 4:50
  7. "Under Milk Wood"  – 5:55
  8. "A.M. Mayhem"  – 6:50

Personnel

References
  1. Parker, Chris (20 January 2012). "Jazz Suite Inspired By Dylan Thomas's Under Milk Wood". BBC Music Magazine. BBC Worldwide. Retrieved 4 October 2015.
  2. Hull, Tom (June 22, 2020). "Music Week". Tom Hull – On the Web. Retrieved June 23, 2020.
  3. BBC Four – Jazz Britannia
  4. Fordham, John (11 November 2010). "50 great moments in jazz: Stan Tracey's Under Milk Wood and the rise in British jazz". The Guardian. Guardian News and Media. Retrieved 4 October 2015.
  5. "Biography". Clark Tracey. Archived from the original on 5 April 2001. Retrieved 9 October 2015.
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