JAZZ pulsates in drummer Clark Tracey’s bloodstream. He’s the son of epochal pianist Stan, born in 1961 in Middlesex Hospital, a few streets away from Ronnie Scott’s Soho club, where Stan was house pianist.

“My parents were playing jazz from my first day at home, which always appealed!” he says Stan also played classical music and African tribal recordings.”

As he grew older he duetted on vibes with his dad, who invited him to join his ensembles on drums at 17 — he's also been watching and absorbing London-based percussionists like Bryan Spring, John Stevens and Alan Jackman.

“Most of the other musicians were also old enough to be my father,” Clark remembers. He wanted to play with musicians his own age too, so he formed his own band just three years after turning professional.

He agrees that hiring brilliant younger contenders was integral to his musical philosophy. “It’s a belief I shared with Stan as well as Art Blakey. As I’ve grown older, it’s becoming easier to pick much younger musicians.

“But I confess I enjoy both influencing and being influenced by young minds if I can hear something special in their playing.”

There’s certainly a very special sound to his newest band and they're in full fettle on their latest CD, No Doubt.

The quintet comprises tigerish young horns, alto saxophonist Sean Payne and trumpeter Alex Ridout — who blows eloquently and soulfully on her own tune Top Dog and Kenny Wheeler’s Foxy Trot — while Elliott Sansom’s empathetic piano and the pulsating undertow of James Owston’s bass, together with Clark’s rumbustious drums, create a swinging momentum.

Duke Ellington’s music is prominent in Stan’s playing and composing and he pays tribute to Ellington's  “effective simplicity as a pianist and the energetic and soulful exuberance he had as a bandleader. How he could swing!”

All these qualities are expressed in his band’s version of Star-Crossed Lovers from Ellington and Billy Strayhorn’s Shakespeare suite, Such Sweet Thunder.

“It was requested by Sean Payne, who was 17 when it was recorded,” he says. “It’s one of my favourites too but Sean’s rendition highlights the connection Ellington’s music has with every generation.” Payne plays it like a master, with beautiful tone and fluency.

Comparing young musicians now with how the jazz scene was when he was a young musician, Clark comments  that they have better mastery of reading now and often play with better technique.

“But this often means that the soul of the music is overlooked. My favourite young players are those from whom I hear the music’s history as they play, not necessarily just a dazzling profusion of notes.”

Get hold of the powerful No Doubt, for it combines precocious young talent with enduring respect and marvel for the music’s tradition. Clark drums with a fiery power and the youthful, skilful young band excels alongside him.

No Doubt by the Clark Tracey Quintet is available on TenToTen Records.