The Jazz Champions
Progress Theatre, Reading
Friday 3 January 2025

Alan Barnes, alto saxophone & clarinet; Simon Allen soprano & tenor saxophones; Dave Newton, piano; Andy Cleyndert, bass; Clark Tracey, drums.

It’s hard to imagine a better way to celebrate a new year of Jazz at Progress than in the company of the Jazz Champions – Simon Allen, Alan Barnes, Dave Newton, Andy Cleyndert and Clark Tracey – five musicians at the top of their game who relish the challenge of playing together and the opportunity to pay fulsome tribute to the Champions of earlier generations, like Bobby Wellins, Stan Tracey, Roy Haynes, Bobby Watson, Harry Edison and Chick Corea, whose music they expressed with passion and inspired invention.

The band hit full stride with the opening number, ‘See You CB’ by the legendary Scots’ saxophonist Bobby Wellins which set heads swaying, feet tapping and entire rows of seats rocking with its full-throated ensemble sound and insistent beat.

Though Roy Haynes, who sadly died on 12 November 2025 at the remarkable age of ninety-nine, was best known for the timeless joys of his drumming and musicianship, he was also an accomplished composer. Three numbers dedicated to his memory captured the unique qualities of his music in what jazz writer Brian Priestley aptly described as ‘a feeling of continual surprise combined with absolute relaxation’.

Tracey’s crisp drum intro, set the scene for ‘Long Wharf’, an evocation of Haynes’ birthplace in Boston, drawn for his 1956 album, ‘Out of the Afternoon’. The gentle, feathery tones of Alan Barnes alto contrasted beautifully with the muscular approach of Simon Allen’s tenor, prompted by the magic touch of Dave Newton at the keyboard. Cleyndert and Tracey kept the ‘pots boiling’ in the rhythm section.

Dave Newton was at his enigmatic best on ‘Snap Crackle’, Haynes’ onomatopoeic nickname, denoting the distinctive sound of his snare drum, which fairly bristled with unexpected rhythmic twists and turns. Dave’s long- term partner in crime, Alan Barnes, added to the air of mystery with a magnificent clarinet solo.

‘Hagnes’, the final piece in the Haynes’ tribute, was originally recorded in Sweden way back in 1954. Tracey’s opening fusillade of drumming led the way on to a roller-coaster of mounting excitement, firmly anchored to the ground by Andy Cleyndert’s sublime bass lines.

I’m pleased to say that saxophonist and composer Bobby Watson is alive and well and as active as ever on the US jazz scene. He made his mark early in his career as Musical Director of Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers from 1977 to 1981, for whom he composed ‘A Bitta Bittadose’. The band followed Cleyndert’s rich- toned call-to-action and dug into an earthy blues-groove to close the first set in spectacular fashion amid rapturous applause and shouts of ‘YEAH’ from the audience.

True to the spirit of the festive season, the second set opened with a touch of pantomime when MC Jim Wade looked to one side of the stage for the band’s entry, only for them to appear on the other when his back was turned. ‘They’re behind you,’ called out one wag in the audience.

‘The Rainbow at the Five Mile Road’, the first of two pieces dedicated to Clark Tracey’s inspirational father, Stan, came from the 1969 album ‘Free an’ One‘ when Stan was exploring the world of ‘free’ improvisation in the company of Peter King on alto, Dave Green bass and Bryan Spring drums. This interpretation was no less adventurous in the wistful, reflective mood suggested by the title; the subtle interplay between the musicians was something to especially savour.

‘Euphony’ cast an affectionate backward glance to 1952 and the first recording of a Stan Tracey original, by an eight-piece ensemble with Stan on piano, led by the then teenage wunderkind Victor Feldman. A bright, breezy number, similar in style and bouncy charm to Clifford Brown’s ‘Joyspring’, it gave everyone the chance to relax and stretch out at rather more length than permitted by the 2 minutes and 36 seconds of the 78-rpm recording.

The superb rhythm section of Andy Cleyndert and Clark Tracey came into its own in support of Dave Newton as he took a headlong dive into the challenge of Chick Corea’s ‘Matrix’. An improvisation of astonishing complexity, power and rhythmic drive held the audience absolutely spellbound and provided the launching pad for roof-lifting solos from Simon Allen and Alan Barnes. WOW!

If you will forgive a flight of fancy, ‘Remind Me In Three’, a Latin-based original by Clark Tracey, couldn’t help but make me ponder the uncertainties of our current weather patterns. I bathed in the glow of endless summer evoked by Alan Barnes’ poised alto, only for Simon Allen to summon the storm clouds with his soaring soprano. By good fortune, Dave Newton was on hand to restore calm, order and the welcome return of glowing of sunshine.

When Clark Tracey picked up his brushes ahead of announcing the final number, I thought that we may be set for a gentle ballad to close an evening of otherwise white-hot excitement. How wrong could I be! Clark can generate as much power with brushes as he can with sticks, as he ably demonstrated on ‘Kitty’ an out-and-out swinger from Harry Edison to round off a magnificent gig.

All praise to the Jazz Champions, the brainchild of the fertile imagination of Clark Tracey; champions in their own right as individual musicians and in the broader sense of championing past heroes and the cause of jazz for the future.

Thanks also to the Progress Front of House team and to Rich and Joe in the lighting and sound box, all whom of whom helped to get the new year of Jazz at Progress off to an unforgettable start.

TREVOR BANNISTER

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