As with all of the great jazz musicians, saxophonist John Surman has been through many musical periods during his long and illustrious career and tonight’s concert is a tribute to that fact. Surman walks on to the stage to the sound of rapturous applause from what is obviously a very proud British audience.

Surman begins the evening on Soprano, creating a whirlwind of sound through the use of delay pedals and a superhuman lung capacity. It becomes obvious that the backing loops used to accompany his improvisation now sound somewhat dated and don’t feel like they belong having a musical discussion with an improviser of such calibre. Vocalist, Karin Krog joins to perform a variety of material including a medley of traditional Norwegian Folk music which presents the singer’s voice well but you feel that it is not the best showcase for Surman’s creative talent. The first half concludes with the standard, ‘God Bless the Child’ with Surman accompanying on piano. He is obviously no virtuoso on the instrument but provides a solid backing for Krog’s tasteful vocals.

The second half of the performance is what the audience have been waiting for.  Double bassist, Drew Gress, suffers from poor sound tonight as he is often buried under the power of the other musicians. He is only heard properly in his very lyrical solo sections. Abercrombie and Surman weave beautiful countermelodies around each other to create a string of interesting dialogues. Jack DeJohnette is a force of nature. His powerhouse drumming dominates proceedings with lightning fast forays around the kit culminating in ear splitting cymbal crashes. These are a catalyst for powerful responses from Surman switching between soprano, baritone and bass clarinet. The band are full of energy this evening and this is reflected in the audience’s emphatic response.

John Marley