Jazz Articles about John Surman

About John Surman

Album Review

Let us start with the recording itself. For this album the quality of the recording is as important as the playing. It was made at Talent Studio in Oslo by Jan Erik Kongshaug--and is typically in the style of ECM Records: spacious, detailed, each instrument given room to breathe without being isolated from its neighbor. But here it genuinely enhances the music's atmosphere. The recording never feels artificially distant; instead, it amplifies the sense that the quartet is improvising inside ...

Album Review

Mick Goodrick: In Pas(s)ing

Read "In Pas(s)ing" reviewed by Frank Housh

by Frank Housh
July 9, 2026

In Pas(s)ing, originally released in 1979, was Mick Goodrick's first and last ECM Records recording as a leader. Indeed, aside from an appearance on Charlie Haden's recording of ECM's musical manifesto The Battle Of The Fallen (1983) by the Liberation Music Orchestra, Goodrick never again appeared on an ECM recording. In Pas(s)ing will be re-issued July 10, 2026 as part of ECM's Luminessence series.The album's title is a homonym, referring to the title song and “Pasing," the name of the street and district of Munich ...

Album Review

Lucian Ban, John Surman, Mat Maneri: Cantica Profana

Read "Cantica Profana" reviewed by Neri Pollastri

by Neri Pollastri
November 10, 2025

Nell'intervista di quest'estate, il pianista Lucian Ban annunciava l'uscita di due suoi nuovi dischi dedicati all'esplorazione della musica popolare della Transilvania, suo luogo di nascita, assieme al fido compagno Mat Maneri e al sassofonista e clarinettista britannico John Surman, con i quali nel 2018 aveva già realizzato un lavoro dello stesso tipo, Transylvanian Folk Songs. Il primo dei due album, Cantica Profana, è il più completo, perché raccoglie dodici brani registrati tra il novembre 2023 e il novembre 2024 nel ...

Album Review

Lucian Ban, John Surman, Mat Maneri: The Athenaeum Concert

Read "The Athenaeum Concert" reviewed by Neri Pollastri

by Neri Pollastri
November 10, 2025

Secondo album del trio di Lucian Ban, Mat Maneri e John Surman uscito in contemporanea, diversamente da Cantica Profana questo Athenaeum Concert esce solo in versione LP, è meno completo --solo quattro brani, nessuno dei quali in più versioni --ma forse più compatto, un po' perché registrato durante un unico concerto --quello, appunto, all'Athenaeum Romeno di Bucarest del 25 giugno 2024 --, un po' perché tutti e quattro i brani hanno una considerevole lunghezza (dai nove e mezzo ai dodici ...

Building a Jazz Library

Ten Terrific Sax Plus Organ Combinations

by Artur Moral
February 12, 2025

OK, maybe the electric guitar was its first and most celebrated love affair, but the organ's alliances with the saxophone's family members are undoubtedly among the richest musical combinations, both in terms of sound and the intense interrelationships that typically develop in such encounters. Whether it be a tenor with a Hammond, a soprano with an electronic keyboard or a baritone with a pipe organ, we are facing the alloy of two musical devices that are exceptionally equipped for maximum ...

Radio & Podcasts

Steve Smith, Don Paul, Mike Stern, John Surman & More

by Bob Osborne
February 6, 2025

In this eclectic mix there is a 40th anniversary retrospective of the work of ex-Journey drummer Steve Smith. In addition a then and now look at guitarist Mike Stern plus a remarkable album from poet Don Paul. This is interspersed with some new releases plus a new version of a 1969 recording by UK jazz legend John Surman. Playlist Show Intro 00:00 Brent Laidler “Riffy Business" from Hidden Gems (BEL) 00:29 Alex Coke & Carl Michel Sextet “The ...

Album Review

John Surman: Words Unspoken

Read "Words Unspoken" reviewed by Mario Calvitti

by Mario Calvitti
April 8, 2024

Giunto alla soglia degli 80 anni, che compirà in Agosto, e con alle spalle oltre mezzo secolo di attività professionale che ha prodotto una discografia imponente e importante sia in termini di quantità che di qualità, il sassofonista britannico John Surman aggiunge un'altra gemma luminosa al ricco catalogo delle sue opere, in gran parte documentato sulla etichetta tedesca ECM Records. Non si tratta dell'atteso disco in duo con il pianista norvegese Vigleik Storaas, annunciato durante il loro tour europeo della ...