A chain of exemplary solo albums – Upon Reflection, Withholding Pattern, Private City, Road To St Ives – demonstrated the extent of John Surman's English "roots", making sense of that part of his past that includes a reverence for the British countryside and for Thomas Hardy's novels, and reflects his exposure to English church music and folk song. The solo work, in brief, documents his "pastoral" side. The "other" Surman however, is an exceptional group player – heard on ECM recordings with Barre Phillips, the Paul Bley Quartet, and Mick Goodrick and on Adventure Playground, the first of two volumes from a particularly productive Oslo session.
The group here was convened, initially, to reconcile different aspects of Surman's small group playing. The reedman and drummer Tony Oxley had been playing together in more-or-less "free" contexts for a quarter century, making history with their contribution to John McLaughlin's Extrapolation, for example, back in 1969. Surman's association with Paul Bley began with the "production project" of 1986 entitled Fragments, its studio-assembled line-up proving so compatible that the group subsequently spent a year together on the road.
Adventure Playground also draws upon the enduring strengths of the association between Gary Peacock and Paul Bley, which had been honed through thirty years of improvising. In the early 1960s, Bley and Peacock helped shape the language of the progressive jazz of the day...which, it might be noted, has yet to be supplanted by a more adventurous "avant garde".
But if Adventure Playground builds upon a secure network of inter-relationships, it also gambles with the unknown and the untested. Prior to this recording, Bley and Peacock had not crossed paths with Oxley's singular drumming. The range of approaches on display permits Surman to be expansive and to work through his horns in both introspective and fiery manner.
Tracklist:
1 Only Yesterday 8:40
2 Fig Foot 4:30
3 Quadraphonic Question 14:14
4 Twice Said Once 5:51
5 Just For Now 3:45
6 As If We Knew 7:25
7 Twisted Roots 10:16
8 Duet For One 3:27
9 Seven 5:42
Baritone Saxophone, Soprano Saxophone, Bass Clarinet – John Surman
Bass – Gary Peacock
Drums – Tony Oxley
Piano – Paul Bley
