Sean Trane
Surman’s debut as a leader/solo artiste is a little surprising if you know his general propency at being on the avant-garde of jazz. Indeed this debut album is released on the Decca subsidiary label Deram and is a little schizophrenic an album with two sides presenting a dramatic different musical realm and different line-ups.
Indeed if the A-side presents some uncharacteristic (for Surman) standard jazz tracks from anyone but Surman, the line-up is normally not thought of as typically avant-garde (well we’re still in the 60’s and in the UK), because neither Mike Osborne nor Harry Miller are considered as the old-guard, just like Surman himself. The flipside, on the other hand is much-more Surman-like, even if we’re not in the mid-70’s either. Indeed the three Surman-penned tracks are linked together (at least the CD reissue does it) into a 21-mins suite, but each “movement” has its own personality. The opening Incantations is rather free and dissonant sounding, but Episode kinds of correct that “flaw” by being a lot more balanced and surely leading into the 10-mins Dance movement that veers into a solid jazz-rock/fusion that relies heavily on the horns. Indeed the augmented line-up features two trombones (including Rutherford) and the two trumpet-twins, Wheeler and Beckett, with Benelick and Surman as additional winds. Holland plays bass Jackson sits on the drum stool.
What a difference with the other side of the wax though and even if some (8 or 9 minutes) of it might repel some few picky avant/free haters, this debut album should not be deterring many normally-open jazzheads, and even surprise quite a few of mainstream fans