Grasscut: Everyone Was A Bird

You still haven´t got the new Grasscut album "Everyone Was A Bird" (Lo Rec 2015)?
It´s about time you do!

Listen to the beautiful track "Snowdown" in the video, and you will probably be as happy as me to hear John Surman in there too!

You will find more info over at Lo & Behold, where they describe the album as "a search for identity and meaning, both through closely observing the places in which we live, and through digging around in the landscapes of our ancestors", and on Grasscut´s site.

Grasscut are Andrew Phillips (composer, producer, vocals, guitar, keyboards) and our favorite Robert Wyatt biographer Marcus O’Dair (manager, piano, synth, vocoder).

Follow Grasscut on YouTube, Facebook and Twitter.

Karin Krog and John Surman at Henie Onstad

A beautiful video (could have been a bit longer) of Karin Krog and John Surman plying "The Wild Bird" at the Jazzbasillen Jazzfestival, Henie Onstad Kunstsenter, October 26th, 2014.

The concert was arranged in relation to the exhibiton "Christopher Nielsen: I'm Just A Simple Conceptualist from Ulsrud" (link to site in Norwegian).

John Surman and Bergen Big Band

Good news first: John Surman and Bergen Big Band will perform music from their new album "Another Sky", as part of the ‘Surman at Seventy’ residency, at London Jazz Festival in November.

And the really sad news is that long time Bergen Big Band leader and sax player Olav Dale died yesterday at the age of 55. May he rest in peace.

The video is from a concert at Bergen Jazzforum, October 2013.

Wyatt and Stuff Spring Festival 2013

It´s festival season, and here is our spring festival of 2013:

- First out two videos with Evan Parker, John Edwards and John Russell from (the already mentioned) MOPOMOSO tour. More info, and lots of videos on MOPOMOSO´s YouTube.
- John Surman Trio 1975 (full concert). John Surman (bcl,ss,bs), Dieter Feichtner (synthesizer) and Barre Phillips (b).
- Phil Minton and Mick Beck (Sheffield), January 2013.
- Hanne Hukkelberg "My Devils" at Mono (Oslo). Hanne Hukkelberg, Mai Elise Solberg and Ivar Grydeland.
- Hanne Hukkelberg "No Mascara" at Mono (Oslo). Hanne Hukkelberg, Mai Elise Solberg and Ivar Grydeland.
- Michael Francis Duch "Hugh Shrapnel Medley" at Avant Garden (Trondheim), April 2013.

S.O.S.: Looking for the Next One

S.O.S. must have been a supertrio in British jazz in the 70s (not that I noticed), with John Surman (baritone and soprano saxophones, bass clarinet, synthesizer, keyboards), Mike Osborne (alto saxophone, percussion) and Alan Skidmore (soprano and tenor saxophones, drums).

They only released one album, "S.O.S." (Ogun 1975), and it´s on Duncan Heining´s list of 100 essential British jazz albums, as stated in the book "Trad Dads, Dirty Boppers and Free Fusioneers".

21 May Cuneiform will release the trio´s "Looking For The Next One", saying it´s "a compilation of rare and unissued studio sessions and live recordings, will not only rekindle discussions about S.O.S.’s innovative music among connoisseurs, but introduce their exciting, virtuosic music to a new generation of listeners".

Tony Levin is drumming on a couple of tracks too.

Pre-order right away, from over here.

John Surman: Saltash Bells (ECM)

I believe I first heard (and liked!) John Surman on "Extrapolation" (1969) with John McLaughlin and "Morning Glory" (1973), where Terje Rypdal is also playing.

Surman has released several solo albums, and I own "Westering Home" (1972), "Upon Reflection" (1979), "Private City" (1988) and "A Biography Of The Rev, Absalom Dawe" (1995), recommending all of them! The four last ones are on ECM, and I suggest you try "Upon Reflection" first, if you don´t know them.
No, I am not a John Surman expert, but you might become one if you start studying Dan Kurdilla´s (not completely updated) discography.

Well, John Surman is at it again, with a fine new solo album called "Saltash Bells", with music inspired by the English landscapes he grew up in.
The album title (and title track) refers to the sound of the church bells of Saltash.
Warning: This is romantic, melodic and beautiful music, and might be just a bit too sweet for some of you tough guys.

John Surman plays saxophones (baritone, soprano, tenor), clarinets (alto, bass, contrabass), harmonica and synthesizer.

John Surman: Flashpoint

In April 1969 John Surman visited NDR (Norddeutscher Rundfunk) Jazz Workshop to record with English and German musicians.  You may all listen in on "Flashpoint: NDR Jazz Workshop - April ´69" (Cuneiform 2011). Here you get an ordinary CD with three Surman tunes written for the occasion ("Mayflower", "Once upon a time" and "Flashpoint"), and "Gratuliere" by Fritz Pauer and "Puzzle" by Erich Kleinschuster.

What you may hear is great, fresh sounding jazz, small big band style. The music is good on it´s own, but even better when watched with the DVD of the session. In the liner notes Surman says that the style was supposed to be informal, and that is certainly true! We suddenly see camera number two, photographers walking around and microphones dangling in the air. It may come as a surprise to some of you young ones, but they were smoking in studios in 1969.

The musicians: John Surman (ss, bs), Alan Skidmore (ts, fl), Ronnie Scott (ts), Mike Osborne (as), Malcolm Griffiths (tb), Erich Kleinschuster (tb), Kenny Wheeler (tp, flugelhorn), Fritz Pauer (p), Harry Miller (b) og Alan Jackson (dr).

A great release from Cuneiform! Favorites so far in this house are two Surman tunes: "Once upon a time" (with flugelhorn solo by Kenny Wheeler),  dedicated to Alan Skidmore´s daughter, and the energetic title tune "Flashpoint".

John Surman 1969

Next year Cuneiform will release a CD/DVD with John Surman called "NDR Jazz Workshop Hamburg, Germany, April 18, 1969" with these musicians: John Surman (baritone and soprano sax), Alan Skidmore (tenor sax, flute), Ronnie Scott (tenor sax), Mike Osborne (alto sax), Malcom Griffiths (trombone), Erich Kleinschuster (trombone), Kenny Wheeler (trumpet and flugelhorn), Fritz Pauer (piano), Harry Miller (double bass), Alan Jackson (drums).
This recording has not been released before, but you will find some of the musicians in John Surman´s discography already of course. Now please study Part 1 (1966 - 1986) and Part2 (1987 - now) of the discography.

John Surman 65

I had some serious plans to celebrate John Surman´s 65th birthday with a blog post 30 August, but I have to admit I forgot all about it. To straighten things up, I hereby post a video with Surman and Albert Mangelsdorff who celebrates his birthday number 81 today (according to Wikipedia). So, we´re having a party anyway!

AllAboutJazz published a great piece on John Surman 31 August. He talks about his music, how traveling is hard on the instruments and Norwegian taxes! Yes, he´s living in Norway, and I would not have minded to see him on stage here from time to time.

British Visionary Jazz

Check out the latest issue of Wire (#306) , it has got eight pages of Rob Young´ "The Primer: British Visionary Jazz". Young guides you through the period 1964 - 1976, and should be of interest both to Robert Wyatt fans and Canterbury followers. I´ll just mention a few artists: Keith Tippett, Lol Coxhill, Centipede, John Surman and Ian Carr.

Several of the artists mentioned in the piece are active still of course, and I´ll just recommend the new John Surman album "Brewster´s Rooster" on ECM. A nice one with Jack DeJohnette (dr), John Abercombie (g) and Drew Gress (b).

Some of Wire´s "Invisible Jukebox" interviews have been collected i a book (Quartet Books). Robert Wyatt is in it, and you may order it here.

Jazzfest in Trondheim

Trondheim might be a good place to stay 1. - 5. June when (among others) John Surman - Jack DeJohnette Duo and Dave Holland Quintet will visit for Jazzfest 2009.

When Jazz Cats Meet Rockers

Jazz.com list a dozen surprising combinations of jazz musicians and rock artists. You get Sonny Rollins with Rolling Stones, Chick Corea with Rick Derringer, Ornette Coleman with Yoko Ono, Stan Getz with Huey Lewis & The News and more.
One day I might look through my own record collection to see if I find som wild combinations, but at first glance, most cooperations seem quite natural. Robert Wyatt's fond of jazz as we know, and has worked with among others Evan Parker, Gilad Atzmon and Gary Windo, and let's mention one more with John Surman guesting on "Point Scarlet" on Christine Collister's "The Dark Gift of Time".

In Norway we have the band Datarock, and it seems like saxman Kjetil Møster is a regular member of the band, red tracksuit and all! The video is a cover of Devo's "Mongoloid".

Brotherhood of Breath

Last year Fledg'ling reissued several of the South African pianist Chris Mcgregor's (1936-1990) albums. I've got the big band Brotherhood of Breath sso far, and it's damned good stuff! Check out "Brotherhood of Breath" (1970) and "Brotherhood" (1972). In the band you'll find people who are famous among free jazz-, Canterbury- and Robert Wyatt listeners:
Chris McGregor ~ leader, piano, African xylophone
Malcolm Griffiths ~ trombone
Nick Evans ~ trombone
Mongezi Feza - pocket trumpet, Indian flute
Mark Charig ~ cornet
Harry Beckett ~ trumpet
Dudu Pukana ~ alto saxophone
Ronnie Beer ~ tenor saxophone, Indian flute
Alan Skidmore ~ tenor and soprano saxophone
Harry Miller ~ bass
Louis Moholo ~ drums, percussion
Mike Osborne ~ alto saxophone, clarinet
Gary Windo ~ saxophone ("Brotherhood")
John Surman ~ baritone and soprano ("Brotherhood of Breath").
Brotherhood of Breath developed from McGregor's band The Blue Notes, and if you are interested you may study them on a 5 CD box from Ogun (October 2008).
More on Chris McGregor in Wikipedia and in Ian Carr's "Music Outside".

Robert Wyatt here, there and everywhere

Mojo (no. 181, December 2008) let the fans choose "How to buy Robert Wyatt". "Rock Bottom" is number one (of course), followed by "Shleep", "Ruth is Stranger Than Richard", Soft Machine ("Vol 1&2", counts as one here), "Nothing Can Stop Us", "Matching Mole", "Comicopera", "His Greatest Misses" and "Old Rottenhat". A nice shopping list, but let me just sneak "Dondestan" in around number 6,5 or something.

Uncut (no. 139, December 2008) offers the CD "The Paul Weller Jukebox" to the people, and Weller chose Robert Wyatt's "Free Will and Testament". Good to see Wyatt on CD with Little Richard and Chuck Berry!
As if this was not enough, Uncut also has an "Album by Album" guide to Kevin Ayers, with his own comments.

Check out 39. Deutsches Jazzfestival's site, where they have published lots of pictures from the festival (see Michael Mantler, Karen Mantler, John Surman, Bill Frisell, Gilad Atzmon, Robert Wyatt and others).

Black and white

I was looking for some old pictures today, and got some nice music memories in black and white. With my quite new Olympus I obviously managed to take some pictures during a few concerts even in 1977. Here you get Barre Phillips and John Surman from Mumps, in Molde (Norway) in 1977. See some more in the Memories set on Flickr.

39. Deutsches Jazzfestival Frankfurt 2008

Tickets are now on sale for the jazzfestival in Frankfurt 30 October -1 November, and please note that Friday 31 October they have "The Wyatt Variations- An evening curated by Robert Wyatt". On this evening these artists/projects are on:
Max Nagl "Market Rasen" (Max Nagl as, Klemens Wenger keyb, electronics and Herbert Pirker dr).
Dondestan! – The Wyatt Project (John Greaves voc, p, Sylvain Kassap cl, Hélène Labarrière b, Jacques Mahieux voc, dr, Karen Mantler voc, org, harmonica, Jef Morin g and Special guest: Michael Mantler tp).
Annie Whitehead's "Soupsongs" (Annie Whitehead musical director, tb, Jennifer Maidman g, voc, Sarah Jane Morris voc, Cristina Donà voc, Harry Beckett tp, flh, Mark Lockheart ts, ss, Steve Lodder p, keyb, Dudley Phillips b, Liam Genockey dr and Special guest: Gilad Atzmon as, ss, cl).
Whether Robert Wyatt himself will be there, is not certain.

There are lots of great artists the other days of the festival too, among others John Surman, Gilad Azmon, Bill Frisell and Uri Caine.

The Wyatt Variatons

On the 39. Deutsches Jazzfestival Frankfurt 2008 (30.10. – 1.11.) they have an evening dedicated to Robert Wyatt ("The Wyatt Variations"). The festival programme so far:

30. October
* John Surman - Howard Moody Duo: “Rain On The Window“
* Christof Lauer - Patrice Héral Duo
* Mingus, Monk & Me“
– hr-Bigband feat. Bill Frisell, conducted by Michael Gibbs

31. October
The Wyatt Variations – An evening curated by Robert Wyatt
* Max Nagl “Market Rasen“
* Dondestan! – The Wyatt Project feat. Karen & Michael Mantler
* Annie Whitehead's "Soupsongs" feat. Gilad Atzmon

01. November
* Gilad Atzmon & The Orient House Ensemble
* “Citizen Caine“
– hr-Bigband feat. Uri Caine, conducted by Örjan Fahlström
* The Exploding Star Orchestra feat. Bill Dixon

Since John Surman is playing on the same festival, the night before the Wyatt evening, let me just repeat my old wish (or dream), a Robert Wyatt - John Surman duo album.

News for you

- I'm looking forward to hear Atomic at the Bergen Jazzforum this Friday. Be there or be square.
- Paul Bley is doing a church concert at the Oslo Jazzfestival 15 August.
- John Surman's (sax) new album is out on ECM This time he is working with Howard Moody (church organ). Just have to check that one.
- If you want to read the story about Robert Wyatt, Billy Bragg and the rhubarb in German, do it in Hamburger Morgenpost!
- A new Scorch Trio record (Brolt!) is on the way! A double LP with extra material is made in 500 copies. Read all about it at Rune Grammofon.

British jazz

Record Collector has pieces on collectable British jazz in their February and March issues. These are really teasers, and I find a lot of interesting stuff of course (John Surman, Ian Carr, Graham Collier, Mike Westbrook etc) , but I will not even try to go hunting for vinyl copies of some of these albums. Do you want Michael Garrick Trio´s 10" "Moonscape"? £ 1300 thank you.
I have got the two albums listed here, where Robert Wyatt´s playing:
Centipede: "Septober energy" (RCA Neon 1971) (£ 60 , first pressing, £ 20 second pressing).
Keith Tippet Group: "Dedicated to you, But you weren´t listening" (Vertigo 1971) (£ 75).

Music Outside

The second edition of Ian Carr’s book “Music Outside. Contemporary Jazz in Britain” from 1973 is out now (Northway, 2008). This is a well written description of jazz as the music outside the main market. Carr’s focus is on the new jazz of Britain in the late 60s and early 70s, and there are portraits of Mike Westbrook, John Hiseman, Evan Parker, Derek Bailey, John Stevens, Trevor Watts, Chris McGregor, Mike Gibbs and Ian Carr (and even more). If you are completely new to this area, I guess some parts of the book will feel like a catalogue of artist names, but come on and try! You get fascinating portraits of musicians and stories about the eternal conflict between making art and earning money for bread and milk (and get some appreciation perhaps).

Soundtrack while reading:
Back Door: Back Door (1973)
Ian Carr: Belladonna (1972)
Ian Carr with Nucleus: Labyrinth (1973)
Ian Carr’s Nucleus: Roots (1973)
Centipede: Septober Energy (1971)
Stan Getz/The Kenny Clarke-Francy Boland Big Band: Change of Scenes (1971)
Dave Holland Quartet: Conference of the Birds (1973)
The Mahavishnu Orchestra: The Inner Mounting Flame (1972)
John McLaughlin: Extrapolation (1969)
John McLaughlin: Where Fortune Smiles (1971)
John Surman: Westering Home (1972)
The Keith Tippett Group: Dedicated to you.. (1971)
Mike Westbrook: Citadel/Room 315 (1975)
Kenny Wheeler: Gnu High (1976)
Gary Windo: His Masters Bones (1996)