Clark Tracey - Stability - Sunday Times

Clark Tracey, son of Stan, made his reputation as a crisp hard bopper, but, like his father, he aspires to more. "Stability" is his most ambitious - yet self-effacing - session to date, in effect a showcase for the British musicians who have come of age alongside him. Tracey hurls himself into the engine room on the opener, Gone; elsewhere, players of the calibre of Nigel Hitchcock and Gareth Williams get to put their stamp on the proceedings. The settings for the Locrian String Quartet are handled with some flair. Tributes abound, from the evocation of Stan Getz's feathery timbre on The Peacocks to the all too rarely heard Melancholia, borrowed from Duke Ellington's Piano Reflections LP. Vocalist Christine Tobin negotiates the mildly dissonant contours of the title tune while, as a curtain closer, Tracey slips into funky guise for the fusion piece Boaz.