
Here's an item I've been hunting for quite a while and finally managed to get on a cd-r, sourced from the LP above. This is the Trio, which made two albums for Dawn records during their comparatively short life span, this one which was only out in small quantities, I believe, and a fourth one, which I'll come back to later. Any guesses?
The Trio was probably John Surman's freest moment, and after this burst, went quiet and released "Westering Home", radically removed from the Trio, and drawing upon musical memories during his childhood in the southwest in England. His lyrical side has been much more to the fore in later releases than in this explosive, no holds barred frenzy of reed overdrive. This is not to deny that there are not quieter moments on this fine recording.
To me this is one of the highlights of John Surman's prodigious output, if not the highlight. We've posted the Trio before as well as the SOS project with Mike Osborne and Alan Skidmore. Do look up Michel Portal's "Alors" which has Surman dueting with Portal and the ret of the Trio. In the top rank of European free jazz, no questions asked. Barre Phillips and Stu Martin provide the tightly knit environment of three-fold impro. It's a bit of a misnomer to call this album John Surman Trio as the group pretty much was leaderless, though one may guess it was for marketing purposes.
Five pieces on this album, though they run very much together. Three of the pieces were first featured on the first Trio album, so listening to this one and the first Trio, I suspect it runs something like this:
Side A:
Billy the Kid (Martin)
Tallness (Surman)
Dee Tune (Surman)
Side B:
In Between (Surman)
Spikenard (Phillips)
John Surman (bs,ss, cl)
Barre Phillips (bs)
Stu Martin (ds)
Recorded on 10.1.1970 in Altena, Westfalen.