See moreA powerful and exciting album from renowned English saxophonist John Surman with a 'supergroup' that includes fellow ECM band-leaders John Abercrombie and Jack DeJohnette and, completing the quartet, highly-regarded bassist Drew Gress, making his label debut.
With emphasis on strong playing and group interaction, this is a real 'jazz' album, recorded at New York's Avatar Studios. Surman, who celebrates his 65th birthday in early August, is on best form on both soprano and baritone saxophones, and the group is deeply anchored in shared musical experience. Surman has long associations with both DeJohnette and Abercrombie and the drummer and guitarist also have considerable history together (including the much-loved Gateway trio).
The album features seven new tunes by Surman, plus Billy Strayhorn's wistful "Chelsea Bridge" and John Warren's "Slanting Sky". Soulful ballads, hard driving uptempo tunes and fiery improvisations are all to be found here. After ECM discs with organ (Rain on the Window), strings (The Spaces In Between), brass ensemble (Free and Equal), choir (the Mercury Prize-nominated Proverbs and Songs), and early music experiments with The Dowland Project (Romaria), John Surman offers a recording unequivocally jazz in its orientation. His last comparably outgoing jazz group performance on CD was Stranger Than Fiction in 1993.
Personnel: John Surman (baritone & soprano saxophones), John Abercrombie (guitar), Drew Gress (double-bass), Jack DeJohnette (drums)