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

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox album
| name       = Jazz Suite Inspired by Dylan Thomas's "Under Milk Wood"
| type       = studio
| artist     = [[Stan Tracey|The Stan Tracey Quartet]]
| cover      = Under Milk Wood 1965.jpg
| alt        =
| released   = 1965
| recorded   = March 14, 1965
| venue      =
| studio     = Lansdowne Studios, London
| genre      = [[Jazz]]
| length     = 40:46
| label      = [[Columbia Graphophone Company|Columbia]], Steam,<br />[[Blue Note Records]], Jazzizit, ReSteamed
| producer   =
| chronology = [[Stan Tracey]]
| prev_title = Little Klunk
| prev_year  = 1959
| next_title = Laughin’ and Scratchin’
| next_year  = 1965
| misc       = {{Extra album cover
| header  = Alternative cover
| type    =
| cover   = Under Milk Wood 2010.jpg
| border  =
| alt     =
| caption = 2010 reissue on ReSteamed Records
}}
}}
{{Album ratings
| rev1 = ''[[BBC Music Magazine]]''
| rev1Score = {{rating|5|5}}<ref name="BBC Music Magazine"/>
|rev2 = ''[[The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings]]''
|rev2score  = {{Rating|4|4}}<ref name="Penguin">{{cite book |last1=Cook |first1=Richard |authorlink1=Richard Cook (journalist) |last2=Morton |first2=Brian |authorlink2=Brian Morton (Scottish writer) |title=[[The Penguin Guide to Jazz|The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings]] |year=2008 |edition=9th |publisher=[[Penguin Books|Penguin]] |isbn=978-0-141-03401-0 |page=1414}}</ref>
|rev10 = [[Tom Hull (critic)|Tom Hull]]
|rev10Score = A<ref>{{cite web|last=Hull|first=Tom|authorlink=Tom Hull (critic)|date=June 22, 2020|url=http://www.tomhull.com/ocston/blog/archives/2859-Music-Week.html|title=Music Week|website=Tom Hull – On the Web|accessdate=June 23, 2020}}</ref>
}}
'''''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 Graphophone Company|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.<ref>[http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0087cfl BBC Four – Jazz Britannia]</ref>
==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".<ref name="BBC Music Magazine">{{cite web|last=Parker|first=Chris|title=Jazz Suite Inspired By Dylan Thomas's Under Milk Wood|url= http://www.classical-music.com/review/jazz-suite-inspired-dylan-thomass-under-milk-wood|work=[[BBC Music Magazine]]|publisher=[[BBC Worldwide]]|accessdate=4 October 2015| date=20 January 2012}}</ref>
In a series of articles for ''[[The Guardian]]'' newspaper titled "50 great moments in jazz", [[John Fordham (jazz critic)|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".<ref>{{cite web|last=Fordham|first=John|title=50 great moments in jazz: Stan Tracey's Under Milk Wood and the rise in British jazz|url= https://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2010/nov/11/stan-tracey-under-milk-wood |work=[[The Guardian]]|publisher=[[Guardian News and Media]]|accessdate=4 October 2015|date=11 November 2010}}</ref>
==Release history==
Since the original 1965 mono LP on Columbia, the album has been released on a number of labels, including [[Blue Note Records|Blue Note]]. It was first reissued in 1976 on Tracey's own Steam label. The album was later reissued in 2010 on his son, [[Clark Tracey]]'s ReSteamed Records label,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.clarktracey.com/biog.htm|title=Biography|website=Clark Tracey|accessdate=9 October 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010405191302/http://www.clarktracey.com/biog.htm|archive-date=5 April 2001|url-status=dead}}</ref> 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.
# "Cockle Row" &nbsp;– 6:50
# "Starless and Bible Black" &nbsp;– 3:45
# "I Lost My Step in Nantucket" &nbsp;– 3:15
# "No Good Boyo" &nbsp;– 5:00
# "Penpals" &nbsp;– 3:45
# "Llareggub" &nbsp;– 4:50
# "Under Milk Wood" &nbsp;– 5:55
# "A.M. Mayhem" &nbsp;– 6:50
== Personnel ==
* Stan Tracey – piano
* [[Bobby Wellins]] – tenor saxophone
* [[Jeff Clyne]] – bass
* [[Jackie Dougan]] – drums
==References==
{{reflist}}
{{Under Milk Wood}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jazz Suite Inspired by Dylan Thomas's Under Milk Wood}}
[[Category:Stan Tracey albums]]
[[Category:Music based on poems]]
[[Category:Cultural depictions of Dylan Thomas]]
[[Category:Dylan Thomas]]