Jazz Suite

inspired by Dylan Thomas’ Under Milk Wood

Pianist and composer Stan Tracey, ‘the godfather of British jazz’, is best known for his 1965 album Jazz Suite Inspired by Dylan Thomas’s ‘Under Milk Wood’.  Dylan Thomas’ famous BBC radio drama dramatizes the lives, dreams, and innermost thoughts of the inhabitants of a small fictional Welsh fishing village, Llareggub; and is the inspiration for Tracey’s evocative themes, including the acknowledged genius of the tone-poem Starless and Bible Black.

Using original scores transcribed by his son, drummer Clark Tracey, the classy jazz quartet, who all boast direct connections with the musicians of the original album, will perform Stan’s compositions, alongside narrative passages delivered by three respected actors.  In both words and music, Under Milk Wood endures because it recognises the warmth of friendship, family, and community that can still bind us together.

Dylan Thomas lived with his family in a summerhouse in the grounds of Magdalen College in 1945.  In 1949, their oldest son, Llewelyn, was a pupil at MCS where he remained until the summer of 1956.

Ewen Baird sax
Martin Pickett piano
Steve Kershaw bass
Mike Goff drums

with actors Tom Neil, Verona Chard, and Andrew Fettes.