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Clark Tracey Quartet

Given Time

Tentoten Records TTTCDS758

Volume two of drummer/leader Clark Tracey's 'British Jazz Composers' series (volume one, British Standard Time featured a trio – Tracey plus bassist Arnie Somogyi and pianist Gareth Williams – playing material by the likes of Don Weller, Stan Tracey and George Shearing), this album adds Australian tenor player Brandon Allen to the pre-existing band for five of its nine tracks.

After an irresistibly catchy bluesy opener (Bobby Wellins's 'C.U.C.B.') , featuring Allen's swaggering, full-bodied tenor and Williams's rollicking piano, the album alternates between trio and quartet tracks – Victor Feldman's 'Seven Steps to Heaven', enlivened by a persuasively garrulous piano solo, followed by Tony Crombie/Benny Green's graceful 'So Near, So Far', culminating in Django Bates's hypnotically repetitive 'I Can't Get Started Either' Š all addressed with Tracey's trademark mix of polish and snap.

Highlights include a visit to Ray Noble's celebrated favourite 'Cherokee' that states its theme only after a prolonged tenorŠdrums duo improvisation and a rousing version of one of Tim Garland's best-known compositions, 'Simple Simon' (from 1997's Enter the Fire); overall, this is, as Tracey says in his notes, 'a mix of tunes that have become internationally acknowledged in the jazz repertoire [Charlie Chaplin's "Smile", Tony Newley/Leslie Bricusse's "Who Can I Turn To?"] as well as tunes that have stood out to me as a performer [David Newton's "Given Time"]'.

An accomplished, lively and vibrant album delivered with musicianly ease and assurance – recommended.