John Surman: "Flashpoints and Under Currents: A Time Trip and a Lost Treasure of Progressive Music Circa 1969

John Surman Flashpoints and Under Currents : Cuneiform 

The British born musician John Surman has been making music for over sixty years, first gaining recognition for his baritone saxophone work with the Mike Westbrook Band in the mid-sixties. Along the way, this creative soul was a key driving force in the British jazz scene. He pursued avant-garde, modal and free jazz genres, but he has also explored creative music incorporating folk, pastoral, choral and chamber-like musical inspirations. He is clearly an eclectic musical maestro of international importance. In addition to Westbrook, his curriculum vitae includes numerous notable collaborations that include artists like Dave Holland, John McLaughlin, Terje Rypdal, Mike Gibbs, Jack DeJohnette, Alexis Korner, Thomaz Stanko, John Taylor, Paul Bley, John Warren, John Marshall, and his partner vocalist Karin Krog.  

Now at the tender age of eighty, this man is continuing to produce modern musical offerings that still deliver to the listener consistent invention, beauty and reflection. He has become a perfect mentor for the upcoming artist of the next generation.

I have reviewed both of his most current ECM releases Invisible Threads (here) from Jan 2018 and his Words Unspoken (here) from 2024, and Surman never ceases to find ways to expand the palette and reinvent the concept of creative improvised music.

This latest release, Flashpoints and Under Currents, captures a live performance of Surman's ten-piece group from a performance recorded in Hamburg, Germany on April 18, 1969, apparently in front of an audience. At the time of this recording- a very busy year for Surman-he had just completed his second album as a leader titled How Many Clouds Can You See among several other collaborative efforts. This new release is a expanded release from Cuneiform Records which originally released Surman's studio recorded Flashpoint NDR Jazz Workshop -April 1969 and released in CD and DVD form in 2011. The latest release Flashpoints and Under Currents is more historically of interest because Surman has included eight additional compositions and because the listener is 

On this iteration of the group is the same. Surman plays soprano and baritone sax, and bass clarinet and is joined by the Canadian trumpet/flugelhorn master Kenny Wheeler. Three British saxophonist of note, Ronnie Scott on tenor and Alan Skidmore on tenor and flute, and Mike Osborne on alto fill the horn section with Malcom Griffiths and the Austrian Erich Kleinschuster are on trombones. The rhythm section includes another Austrian, Fritz Pauer handling the piano, the South African Harry Miller on upright bass, and another Brit, Alan Jackson on drums. The release includes thirteen compositions, ten by Surman and one each by Wheeler, Pauer, and Kleinschuster. The music runs a little over 108 minutes spanning in time from just over four minutes to just under twelve minutes in run time.

The group deserves a little biographical refresher to get the significance of this important session in context. The three members of this recording who are still present are John Surman, whose discography as a leader and his worldwide exposure as a sought after sideman, speak for themselves. The prolific saxophonist Alan Skidmore is now eighty-three. Skidmore's saxophone and flute started out in the blues with Britain rockers John Mayall and Alexis Korner and  graduated to associations with Elvin Jones, Weather Report and Dexter Gordon. And Alan Jackson, the drummer, who served in many of Mike Westbrook's ensembles besides working on several Surman projects, now eighty-five and  presumably retired from playing.  The remaining seven members of this band have sadly all transitioned. 

Mike Osborne, the alto saxophonist, retired in 1982 due to health issues, and passed in 2007 at the age of sixty-five. Ronnie Scott, saxophonist and one of the founders of his jazz world famous club named after him in London, passed in 1996 at the age of sixty-nine.  Kenny Wheeler the prolific and well respected composer/trumpeter left us in 2014 at the age of eighty-four. Trombone ace Malcom Griffiths, a one time member of Mike Westbrook's Band, Michael Gibbs Orchestra and lead trombone in Buddy's Rich's Orchestra, left us in 2021 at age seventy-nine. Austrian trombonist Erich Kleinschuster, an alumni of the Kenny Clarke-Francy Boland's ensemble, who also played with Stan Getz and Astrid Gilberto as well as harmonica giant Toots Thielman's,  left us in 2018 at the age of eighty-eight. Fellow Austrian and educator/pianist Franz Pauer, who played with prominent jazz artists like Dexter Gordon, Don Byas, Booker Ervin, and Art Farmer, passed in 2012 at the age of sixty-eight. South African bassist Harry Miller, besides working with Mike Westbrook's Band and Chris McGregor's Brotherhood Of Breath, also played with Elton John and as a guest bassist for King Crimson. He was tragically killed in an auto accident in 1983 at the age of forty-two. With this in mind, it becomes all the more significant to have a chance to listen to this talented assembly of some of Britain's most creative musicians at what might be arguably considered their prime, the late sixties.

The music from Flashpoints and Under Currents is a testament to Surman's inquisitive mind. It captures the musician as an aspiring composer and arranger for larger format ensembles, while capturing his proficiency as a formidable multi-reed artist and as a leader.  The compositions can be risky, probing, dynamic, often free, sometimes cacophonous or modal in nature. But sometimes the music shows a penchant to create melodic beauty. Surman uses diverse textures, inventive section accompaniments, tonal variation and multiple rhythmic ideas. 

If you have heard the original release from 2011 then you will recognize the highlights from the first recording-Surman's the modally driven "Mayflower," the gorgeous "Once Upon a Time" and eruptive and cacophonous "Flashpoint,"  Pauer's airy, waltz-like "Gratuliere" and Kleinschuster's kinetic "Puzzle." These live recordings all have the energy and creativity that mark this incredible ensemble brimming with excitement and vivaciousness as they follow Surman's  compositional lead into a new world of music that seems to have been influenced by what has been going on around the world. Influences like Coltrane, Tyner and Sanders, composer arrangers like Oliver Nelson and Gil Evans and even free thinkers like Dolphy and Coleman. Its a British response to what was happening in the world of jazz circa 1969 and it captures the audience response.

The new album adds some gems that are not to be missed. Besides "Beyond the Hill," "Background," " Hallo Thursday," and "Aqua Regis" all Surman compositions  my favorites are Surman's  beautiful "Where Fortune Smiles," his driving quick-paced "Jack Knife" and Wheller's modal composition "Dallab."

The individual performances are worth noting, like some impressive solos like Osborne's top notch alto sax solo on "Flashpoint." Surman's slippery soprano work "Flashpoint" is like a cobra on steroids and raises the temperature to new heights. Griffith's expressive trombone work on "Gratuliere" is just outstanding as is Alan Skidmore's airy flute work. Expressive flugelhorn work by Wheeler on "Dallab"  and  again pulling some strings on "Once Upon A Time" along with some gorgeous piano work by Pauer.  Kleinschuster's trombone on his composition "Puzzle" leaves no prisoners and Alan Jackson offers an explosive drum feature at the coda. "Jackknife" is a wonderful vehicle to hear Wheeler on flugelhorn, Giffiths on trombone and Osborne again show some real mettle on his alto. 

Not all the music is going to age well. This was an experimental time of free expression, at times free of structure, containing elements of dissonance and unfettered noise generation, often lacking melody to hang onto. It could often be exhilarating in the moment, even for the audience in situ who can be captured by the overwhelming feeling of being present and part of an act of creation. But it also can lose the passive listener who can find it hard to feel like it was being played for his inclusion, lacking the feeling of being an observing participant.  That said, this is a marvelous picture into what the creative world of British jazz was like in the late nineteen-sixties.  It was vibrant, daring and pushed the envelope of traditional norms. It was also some of Europe's  most interesting artists of that era who were willing to follow Surman's lead and perform this progressive music with verve, confidence and enthusiasm. A treasure chest of music from another era.