Dark December.

Wednesday, January 01, 2014

Ian Mann pays tribute to five musicians who passed away during December 2013. R.I.P. Stan Tracey, Jim Hall, Yusef Lateef, Herb Geller and Richard Coughlan.

Dark December

December 2013 was a grim month for jazz lovers with the demise of several greats of the genre. I was particularly sad to hear of the death of pianist and composer Stan Tracey (born 1926), one of the greats of British jazz and a musician whose work I have enjoyed consistently for the last twenty five years.

I first saw Tracey play in 1988 at the Brecon Jazz Festival leading his group Hexad, an eye opening performance that subsequently found me purchasing many items of the Tracey oeuvre (including several of his many jazz suites) on vinyl. Later I moved on to CDs with the Mercury nominated octet album ?Portraits Plus? a particular personal favourite.

Over the years I’ve seen Stan perform on many other occasions in Birmingham, Worcester, Brecon again and in recent years at the Titley Jazz Festival in my home county of Herefordshire. Stan played the first three Titley festivals and clearly relished his annual trips to the countryside. It was a great shame that he was unable to attend in 2013 but Steve Melling deputised superbly, ironically playing much of the old Hexad material.

Stan was playing brilliantly until the end and it almost seemed as if he would go on forever. He was a great individualist who will be much missed but his musical legacy will live forever, no doubt lovingly nurtured by his drummer son Clark, a fine musician in his own right. Rest in Peace Stan, and belated condolences to Clark and the Tracey family.

A few days after Stan’s passing news came of the death of American guitarist and composer Jim Hall (born 1930). Here was another jazz great, arguably one with a bigger international reputation but a musician that I only saw live once, and this towards the end of his life, at the 2012 London Jazz Festival. Jim was extremely frail and had to be helped onto the stage but once he was settled he played like an angel ? tasteful, subtle, eloquent, inventive ? all the adjectives that have been used about Jim Hall over the years. It was a privilege to see him play, even at this late stage in his career, and the album ?Pan-O-Rama?, a 1997 live set recorded during a week’s residency at the Village Vanguard with a series of illustrious guests remains a particular favourite. Rest in Peace, Jim, glad I managed to see you when I got the chance. 

Later in the month news came via Sebastian Scotney’s London Jazz News of the passing of the American saxophonists Yusef Lateef (born 1920) and Herb Geller (born 1928), both admirable players but musicians I was never fortunate enough to have witnessed live although I have dipped into Lateef’s recorded output over the years. Once again condolences to their families and friends.

Finally I’d like to pay tribute to a figure on the margins of the music, Kent born drummer Richard Coughlan (born 1947) who was a stalwart of veteran prog rockers Caravan, a band whose extended instrumental passages helped to steer me in the direction of jazz. I still love Caravan’s classic early 1970’s music and that of the ?Canterbury Scene? in general. I saw Richard play with Caravan at a gig in Malvern Winter Gardens way back in 1976! This was my only live sighting of the band prior to an enjoyable show by a radically different version of the group at the Robin 2 in Bilston in early 2013. Sadly Richard was unable to appear at this event having suffered from ill health for a number of years, he died on December 1st 2013. Richard was part of a band that were a significant formative influence on my musical tastes and he will be much missed. My sympathies go to his friends, family and musical colleagues.