Almost a decade has passed since John Surman initiated this special project in
which his reeds and the bass of Chris Laurence are flanked by, and interact
with, a string quartet. “Coruscating”, the debut album from this unique
combination of players, was recorded in January 1999 and met with a warm
response from listeners to jazz, chamber music and beyond. An Editor’s Choice
in
Gramophone, hailed as “coruscating indeed, a classic ECM disc” by
composer Ivan Moody in
International Record Review, and as “an album of
almost unspeakable beauty: fantastically vivid and evocative”, by rock magazine
Mojo, the recording established a template on which Surman could build.
And “The Spaces In Between” marks a big step forward...
“The music has been developed simply through playing”, John Surman notes.
“We’ve played together a lot now, and as we’ve progressed the string quartet
has become much more integrated into the improvisational process too. The
project has become looser in performance than it was when we started out, and
it also feels much more like a
band, a complete entity. I’ve learned
that there are many more possibilities than I first imagined, and gained more
confidence both in what I can write for the strings and in what I can leave to
the players’ imaginations.”
John
Surman soprano and baritone saxophones, bass clarinet
Chris
Laurence double-bass
Rita
Manning violin
Patrick
Kiernan violin
Bill
Hawkes viola
Nick
Cooper cello
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
Recorded February 2006
ECM 1956
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