This 1993 recording of
John Abercrombie's trio with a guest appearance by British saxophone giant and composer
John Surman is, without question, a trademark ECM session. There's the spacious, pristine, icy production by label boss
Manfred Eicher from his studio in Oslo. Next, all the players are ECM staples with the exception of Erskine, who plays everything from pop jazz to classical music. But there are many things that distinguish it as well. For one,
Surman is playing here with a fire not heard since the early '70s. Whether he is blowing a baritone or soprano saxophone or his bass clarinet, he's cutting loose. There are long, looping lines that quote everyone from
John Carter to
Jim Pepper to
Eric Dolphy and
Ben Webster. His willingness to seek out the heart of dissonance inspires his bandmates, particularly on "The Cat's Back." From a nuanced, eerie wail to a Native American folk melody to smoky phraseology taken from "Chelsea Bridge,"
Surman pulls out all the stops and then puts them back in to make the tune whisper.
Abercrombie doesn't exactly take a back seat on this date, but he does showcase his expansive knowledge of
Tal Farlow's harmonic palette by playing extended chords either inside the melody or as a dissonant counterpoint to
Surman. Other standouts include the title track with its strange, even alien, crosstalk between Johnson's bowed bass and
Abercormbie's short, knotted leads. On
Surman's ballad "Ogeda," too,
Abercrombie investigates the manner in which the jazz tradition celebrates dissonant harmonies while using a kind of lyrical improvisation to keep the tune gently swinging. It's a solid session from beginning to end, but one still wishes
Eicher would take his hands off the sound controls a bit, allowing some of the rawness that each of these players shows in live settings to enter the studio. ~ Thom Jurek