JOHN SURMAN — Tales Of The Algonquin (review)

JOHN SURMAN — Tales Of The Algonquin album cover Album · 1971 · Progressive Big Band Buy this album from MMA partners
4/5 ·
Sean Trane
Along with countrymen Kenny Wheeler and Barbadian Harry Beckett, Montreal-born John Warren came to London in the early-60’s and quickly became a stalwart by linking with Surman and Westbrook and the rest of the scene. When bumping into Warren, Suirman decided to make his last album for the Deram label based of the Canadian composer’s compositions, which were inspired by the original tales of the Amerindian Algonquin tribe. For this project, Surman regrouped part of the usual London-scene suspects, like the afore-mentioned Beckett and Wheeler on trumpet, Griffiths on trombone, Osborne, Skidmore, Sulzmann and of course the two initiators on sax, Taylor on piano and two rhythm-section duets of Phillips & Martin (part of Surman’s trio) and Miller & Jackson on the other side, sometimes alternating or completing each other. Graced with an Algonquin village archive document, this final Deram album was recorded and released in 71, around the time of Surman’s Clouds album.

The four 6-mins tracks on the A-side are generally unlinked or unrelated to the Algonquin theme of the flipside’s suite, but they’re no-less interesting. If the opening Terry’s Help is a sort of upbeat big band piece with some demented sax solos, the following Dandelion is a much slower ballad that borders the cheesy, with Osborne’s sax and Taylor’s conventional piano. Up next, We’ll Make It is a mid-tempo that resembles the opening track but slowed down, and there are some solid soloing going around, while the closing Picture Tree is somewhat similar to Terry’s Help.

Across the slice of wax, the 23-mins sidelong title track suite is really the album’s foundation stone, and despite a borderline dissonant Purple Swan intro (a bowed bass), before plunging into hauntingly tense 7/4-rhythmed North Winds, where both drummers and bassist add plenty of power and Beckett’s trumpet providing the drama and a tense piano ostinato courtesy of Taylor. Outstanding stuff, really! The following movement of Manabush’s Adventures is a lot faster and somewhat more traditional, but veers improvised with the White Water Lilly movement a little later.The suite closes on the Wanderer movement, which is a North Winds reprise, much to my delight.

Certainly one of my fave Surman album, even, if the songwriting is entirely that of John warren, but without the former, the latter wouldn’t have gotten a break at all. It turned out that Algonquin would be Surman’s last Deram release and he woul find refuge on the ECM label. Although rather standard-y, Algonquin has a definitely typically British post-bop vibe that this writer loves.

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