John Surman
Biography
Born in Devon in 1944, Composer/multi-instrumentalist John Surman is one of the key figures in a generation of European musicians who crucially expanded the international horizons of jazz in the 1970s and 1980s. He has specialised in the most difficult of technical challenges- his first chosen instrument, the baritone saxophone. Baritone was followed by a swing to the opposite end of the range, soprano saxophone, and then a further extreme, with bass clarinet. Not only that, he began to delve into the world of electronics and synthesisers, at a time when any deviation from acoustic purity was viewed with deep suspicion by the jazz fraternity.
In the 60s he played with Alexis Korner, Ronnie Scott, Humphrey Lyttleton, the Brother hood of Breath and John McLaughlin, and he forged lasting relationships with John Warren, John Taylor and Dave Holland. By the mid-seventies, Surman had produced a couple of important albums "Westering Home", and "Morning Glory". The Trio SOS with Alan Skidmore and Mike Osborne proved another ground-breaking project, combining electronics with the dynamic soloing of three fine saxophonists. He had also begun a long-term collaboration with the American choreographer/dancer Carolyn Carlson, and was based at the Paris Opera with her company for some time.
During the 1980s and 1990s, Surman has maintained an impressively high output of quality work. As an instrumentalist, he has played in duo with deJohnette, Albert Mangelsdorff, Barre Phillips, John Taylor, Tony Oxley, and performed in more open group formations with peer group musicians such as Kenny Wheeler, Dave Holland, Elvin Jones, Oxley and Mangelsdorff, and in quartet with Paul Bley, Bill Frisell and Paul Motian. He toured over a period of years with the great Gil Evans. The duo with Karin Krog also remains an important part of his activity. As a composer, John has continued to work in the contemporary dance field, with Carol Carlson, other European companies and Sadlers Wells Royal Ballet, as well as music for theatre and TV.
Surman has performed prolifically for ECM over the years and in 1989 received a Wire Award for services to jazz in Britain.