Jackie Tracey, who died on Friday 14 August, had celebrated her 80th birthday just four months earlier at London’s 606 Club. Typical of Jackie, the entertainment was provided by some of the legends of British jazz including Bobby Wellins, Don Weller, Jackie’s husband and soul-mate Stan and her son Clark, all of whom played brilliantly. The driving force of this unique musical family, Jackie met and married Stan Tracey while she was working at Decca Records and he was house pianist at Ronnie Scott’s, where he was to stay for several years until the late-1960s.

During this intensively productive period, Stan Tracey played with a host of visiting American artists from Ben Webster and Sonny Rollins to Zoot Sims and Wes Montgomery, and recorded a string great big band and small group albums including the landmark Under Milk Wood Suite.  The next few years, however, were fallow for Stan and so Jackie, by now the mother of Sarah and Clark, returned to work, but this time at home where she applied her energy and determination to re-kindle Stan’s career. In the early 1970s, together with Hazel Miller, the wife of South African bassist Harry Miller, she formed the Grass Roots Jazz Club in south London, presenting gigs at the Swan in Stockwell and providing work for friends and family. They also established the annual Lambeth New Music Jazz Summer School, assisted with funding from the GLAA and ILEA, and Jackie helped to set up the Musicians’ Action Group to lobby for better funding for jazz music and musicians.

Jackie Tracey continued to support Stan in developing his career for a further three decades, running their own label, Steam Records, negotiating and arranging concerts, tours and TV documentaries, and launching new bands and projects. But her passion for the recognition of jazz music and for performance and recording opportunities for its great artists was not confined to Stan alone. Many other jazz musicians owe a debt of gratitude to this big-hearted lady for assisting their careers and providing a platform for their music. Jackie Tracey’s funeral is at West Herts Crematorium on 22 August at 11am.