From the Trio (with Barre Phillips and Stu Martin) to the Paul Bley Quartet to the jazz/Arab music synthesis of the Thimar trio, baritone saxophonist John Surman has been a restless soul, making his mark independent of styles and trends. Surman's previous ECM recordings have been far ranging as well, from the free improv of the Stranger Than Fiction quartet to duets with drummer Jack DeJohnette to the brass fantasies of "The Brass Project." Coruscating is the next step in Surman's evolution as a composer, and it is a far cry from what most American jazzers attempt at a similar stage in their careers But then, this is Euro jazz, and the rules are as different as Michael Brecker is from John Zorn.
Already compared to the work of Vaughan Williams, Bridge, and Benjamin Britten in the London Times, Coruscating is an orchestral work with a small chamber group featuring string players from the orchestra of St. Martin In The Fields. This is not classical music, but an unusual, successful attempt to bridge expressive saxophone and upright bass solos with the broad palette of a string quartet. With Chris Laurence on bass, Coruscating swings in the solos, but with the added tension and color of a string quartet.
From the moody Harry Carney salute "Stone Flower" to the forlorn "Moonless Midnight" to the blowout quartet work in "Winding Passages," Coruscating requires serious listening to be fully effective. Some might hear it as difficult, closer to contemporary classical than any jazz/classical fusion, but when the soloists are at full tilt, the music swings and the stuffy hubris of a zillion notes devoted to long-dead classical masters is erased.
All recordings courtesy of ECM Records. All songs written by J. Surman, courtesy of Manuscript/PRS.
