John Surman

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John Surman 2005

John Douglas Surman (born August 30, 1944 in Tavistock , England ) is a jazz musician and composer . He plays soprano and baritone saxophone , bass clarinet and synthesizer , as a secondary instrument also electronic wind instruments and recorders. He has also composed and played music for dance performances and film soundtracks .

Live and act

After initially playing the baritone saxophone in the Mike Westbrook band in the mid-1960s , he soon began using soprano saxophone and bass clarinet . He first appeared on record in 1966 with the Pete Lemer quintet. After further recordings and appearances with the jazz bandleaders Mike Westbrook and Graham Collier as well as the blues rock musician Alexis Korner , he released his first album in 1968: John Surman . In the same year he also appeared on the jazz album Out of this World by Danish singer Gitte Hænning , who had previously been successful as a hit singer in Germany, with the big band of Kenny Clarke and Francy Boland .

In 1969, he took with John McLaughlin on ( extrapolation ) and founded with two expatriate Americans, the bassist Barre Phillips and drummer Stu Martin , the respected and influential group "The Trio" in 1976 once again revived and around the trombonist Albert Mangelsdorf for enhanced Quartet became MUMPS . In the mid-1970s he founded one of the first bands that consisted only of saxophonists: "SOS" with alto saxophonist Mike Osborne and tenor saxophonist Alan Skidmore . During this early period he also recorded with saxophonist Ronnie Scott , guitarist John McLaughlin , band leader Michael Gibbs and Chris McGregor 's Brotherhood of Breath.

In 1972 he began to experiment with synthesizers. That year, Westering Home was born , the first of several solo projects in which he played all the instruments himself and recorded them with the help of overdubbing . In 1975 he recorded his last album with Mike Westbrook, Citadel / Room 315 . This album features powerful Surman solos on baritone and soprano saxophone and bass clarinet and is considered by many critics to be his best work with Westbrook.

Many of Surman's musical relationships established in the 1970s continue to this day. These include a quartet with pianist John Taylor , bassist Chris Laurence and drummer John Marshall , duets and other projects with the Norwegian singer Karin Krog and with the drummer and pianist Jack DeJohnette . Surman has been working with the ECM label since the late 1970s . In the 1980s the Brass Project was born , u. a. with Kenny Wheeler , Guy Barker , Harry Beckett and longtime members Chris Laurence and John Marshall ; 1992 Surman recorded the album The Brass Project with the Canadian composer and arranger John Warren . His album Invisible Threads was created in 2017 with vibraphonist Rob Waring and pianist Nelson Ayres .

John Surman with Karin Krog (2017)

In recent years he has composed several works in which his own playing appears in an unusual context, for example with church organ and choir ( Proverbs and Songs , 1996), with string quintet ( Coruscating , 1999) and with London Brass and Jack DeJohnette ( Free and Equal , 2001). He has also appeared in a unique trio with Tunisian oud player Anouar Brahem and bassist Dave Holland ( Thimar , 1997) and recorded songs by John Dowland with singer John Potter ( In Darkness Let Me Dwell , 1999).

Other musicians with whom John Surman has worked include bassist Miroslav Vitouš , bandleader Gil Evans , pianists Paul Bley and Lucian Ban , guitarists Terje Rypdal and John Abercrombie , bandoneonist Dino Saluzzi and trumpeters Harry Beckett and Tomasz Stańko .

literature

Lexical entries

Web links

Commons : John Surman  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Review of Songs about This and That
  2. ↑ Discussion of Invisible Threads (NRWjazz)
personal data
SURNAME Surman, John
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Surman, John Douglas (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British jazz musician and composer
DATE OF BIRTH August 30, 1944
PLACE OF BIRTH Tavistock , England