Taken from the 1972 Album Perspectives on Columbia records SCX 6485
Piano – Stan Tracey
Bass – Dave Green
Drums – Bryan Spring
Review by Steve Voce 1972
Why have we had to wait for so long for such a magnificent record? In a month where the new issues seem to be remarkably good this one stands out with the Getz-Boland-Clark album as virtually faultless, from the long bass improvisation that opens Looking to the last imaginative notes of Tollywack.
Does anyone have the answer to the fact that Tracey doesn’t work as frequently as a Dankworth or Gibbs? He has at least as much valid jazz to play and his form rarely drops below high levels. Each of his albums, as this one does, seems to improve on its predecessor, and I feel that this one, with exemplary backing from Green and Spring, shows Tracey in the surround that suits him most. His playing, albeit almost two years ago, seems to have a new fluency, and there is less of the angularity that we normally find, although he still makes much use of his thickly clustered chords. He has all the room he wants on these four tracks, none a bit too long, and consequently focuses on Green and Spring as separate voices as well as accompanists. Green is one of the few men who can make a long bass solo sound exciting, and I don’t think I've ever heard him play better than he does here. Some of the electric boys should lend an ear to his superb tone— a quality in the bass department that seems to be considered expendable these days.
