British saxophonist, clarinetist, and composer
John Surman
turned 80 in 2024. During six decades of laudable achievement, he has recorded and performed in dozens of configurations from solo to big band, chamber quintet to orchestra conductor.
Words Unspoken
is
Surman
's first
ECM
date since 2018's trio offering,
Invisible Threads
. It marks a reunion with the remarkable, Oslo-based American vibraphonist
Rob Waring
. Award-winning British guitarist
Rob Luft
(whose solo albums on
Edition
have won international praise) and Norwegian drummer
Thomas Strønen
balance the quartet. The bandleader brought some sketches into the studio and passed them out without specific instructions as to who would play what when. He wanted the recording to sound like the band created it spontaneously by wedding modern jazz, avant improv, and folk music in the moment.
"Pebble Stone" commences with
Waring
's arpeggiatic theme before
Strønen
and
Luft
join him. The guitarist adds a tempered, contrasting chordal pulse which he doubles on the high strings.
enters on soprano, playing an Eastern-tinged folk melody buoyed by washed guitar sounds, thrumming kick drums and tom-toms, and a circular vibraphone vamp. They ride it until the halfway mark when
begins soloing like a snake charmer. The sparse instrumentation and minimal theme recall work he did with oudist
Anuoar Brahem
Dave Holland
on 1998's
Thimar
. The proceeding title track is a study in layered textures, resonance, and space.
, on baritone, floats above and below his bandmates playing a lyric that embraces noir cinema, ambient electronics (courtesy of
's rainbow palette of sounds), and lithe, nearly contemplative post-bop. A mysterious root theme foreshadows the limber baritone-and-guitar interplay on "Graviola." "Flower in Aspic" is a halting ballad carried by a conversation between vibes, soprano and guitar in a ballad. The band enters "Around the Edges" with
,
, and the ever-imaginative
, establishing a spectral drone from chord voicings, low-register mallet invention on vibes, and a broken, unfixed beat.
's baritone centers itself on that pillow of sound then investigates it in his solo.
introduces "Onich Ceilidh" with probing guitar lines that open a harmonic door for
's soprano atop a gorgeous, waltz-like swing from the ever-dazzling
(his solo here is a set highlight) and
before
carries it out with a rhythmic statement on baritone. "Bitter Aloe" is a subtle yet canny post-bop improvisation. On closer "Hawksmoor,"
's bass clarinet duets with
in a lyric melody reminiscent of the
Jimmy Giuffre Trio
. Halfway through,
joins the vamp, then solos, before entering intricate dialogue with
. They introduce
, whose airy chords and sonics buoy the drummer in framing a fingerpopping frontline conversation.
erases boundaries between styles and genres, and this quartet's members listen so closely, they don't overshadow or step on one another -- they're always conscious of their individual places inside the group. The control, drama, and intimacy
supplies on this album sets it alongside his best recordings on the shelf. ~ Thom Jurek