(John Surman, soprano & baritone sax/bass clarinet; Chris Lawrence, doublebass/Trans4mation string quartet)
British composer and reed virtuoso John Surman has been one of the primary European musicians who have greatly expanded the horizons for jazz. He began recording for ECM in 1979 and has performed in a variety of different ensembles. His work as a choral composes has been recognized, with his 1996 Proverbs and Songs for solo sax, pipe organ and choir being one of his masterpieces. Surman says he is equally affected by the melodic qualities of choral music and English folk music. His improvisations and compositions boast simple and hypnotic melody and advanced but tonal improvisation, and in the works with larger ensembles a feeling for rich and colorful orchestration.
Surman has worked with string quartet before, often with the addition of keyboardist John Taylor. The Spaces In Between merely adds his regular bassist Lawrence to the string quartet, without the keyboards. The selections are very chamber music oriented, becoming a sort of sextet when Surman steps back a bit into the musical fabric, and a sort of sax or clarinet concerto when his solos go front and center. He has a unique approach to the lower registers on both the baritone sax and bass clarinet. I find it akin to some contemporary classical compositions for the viola. The CD title fits perfectly because Surman’s style is often a spare one as far as note-spinning, and the spaces between the notes often communicate as much as the notes themselves. Sure, close-minded jazz buffs will say this European ECM stuff just doesn’t swing, but I think jazz today has expanded its horizons widely enough that if it doesn’t swing in the original sense it doesn’t mean it’s any less great.
TrackList: Moonlighter, You Never Know, Wayfarers All, Now and Again, Winter Wish, The Spaces In Between, Now See!, Mimosa, Hubbub, Where Fortune Smiles, Leaving the Harrow.
– John Henry
