Clark Tracey

Clark Tracey
Born (1961-05-02) 2 May 1961
London, England
Genres Jazz
Occupation(s) Musician
Instruments Drums
Years active 1978–present
Labels 33 Jazz, Tentoten
Associated acts Stan Tracey, Django Bates, Iain Ballamy, Guy Barker, Jamie Talbot, Mark Nightingale, Dave O'Higgins, Steve Melling, Nigel Hitchcock, Gerard Presencer, Mornington Lockett, Jean Toussaint, Simon Allen, Kit Downes, Zoe Rahman and Alan Barnes
Website www.clarktracey.com

Clark Tracey (born 5 February 1961) is a British jazz drummer, band leader, and composer.

Life and career

Tracey first played piano and vibraphone before switching to drums at age 13, studying under Bryan Spring. Tracey played in several ensembles with his father Stan Tracey from 1978 until 2013, including a quartet called Fathers and Sons with John and Alec Dankworth in the 1990s. In addition to his extensive work with his father, Tracey has played with many visiting American musicians such as Scott Hamilton, Johnny Griffin, Red Rodney, Barney Kessell, John Hicks and Pharoah Sanders throughout his career. He also worked and recorded with Buddy DeFranco and Martin Taylor from 1984–86, then with Charlie Rouse (1988), Alan Skidmore in Hong Kong (1989), Tommy Smith (1989), and Guy Barker (1992).

He has led his own ensembles since the early 1980s; in these combos he has played with Django Bates, Iain Ballamy, Guy Barker, Jamie Talbot, Mark Nightingale, Dave O'Higgins, Steve Melling, Nigel Hitchcock, Gerard Presencer, Mornington Lockett, Jean Toussaint, Simon Allen, Kit Downes, Zoe Rahman and Alan Barnes. As a bandleader he has had two tours of the Far East, Yugoslavia, France, Gibraltar and Finland as well as many national UK tours. Following his reputation for hiring highly talented youngsters, his current quintet includes luminaries Chris Maddock, Henry Armburg Jennings, Harry Bolt and Daniel Casimir.

He has been awarded "Best Drums" in the British Jazz Awards three times and in 2007 won "Best Drums" at the Ronnie Scott's Club Awards and his quintet won the Best Performance Award for Birmingham Jazz in 2006.

Clark took over promotions for Herts Jazz in 2009 and now runs a weekly jazz club in Welwyn Garden City and an annual jazz festival. He runs two record labels with his wife, Sylvia Rae Tracey, Tentoten Records and Resteamed Records, the latter dedicated to re-issues on CD of his father's recordings, and a download website Givemejazz. Clark Tracey has written Exploring Jazz Drums for Schott Publishing and he is an educator at the Birmingham Conservatoire and the Purcell School of Music.

Stage and film

Discography

As leader

with Stan Tracey

References

External links

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