"Soundcheck Duo and Trio"

I thought long and hard about which CD to choose as my CD of the Year and must admit to a list of about 7 or 8 but I kept coming back to Stan Tracey's "Soundcheck". The reasons for this are as follows, the shear beauty of this double album, the way Stan handles melody is second to none. His timing is faultless and really effective. Next, every track is exciting in its own way. Then the question, how can Stan get so much human emotion into a piece of music? be it ballad or fast swing, he crams it full with his very soul. A jazz artist needs three things, the mind, the technical ability and the heart. A lot of today's jazz musicians have the first two in abundance but the third is a rarer commodity. The first disc is improvised by Stan and Clark and has to be heard to be believed. The second disc is mainly standards but as fresh and vital and full of Stan's life giving musical force. If this recording had been one of our new young men of jazz, everybody would be hailing it the work of  a genius.