John Surman

KARIN KROG & JOHN SURMAN - BLUESAND (1999)

1. The Nightingale    
2. Ribbon Of Sand    
3. Sombre Woods    
4. Voice Shadow    
5. It Could Be Hip    
6. Don´T Just Sing    
7. Sas Blues    
8. So Blue    
9. Bluesand    
10. Hiden Dreams    
11. Secret Games    
12. Fly Away

Recorded and remastered in 1999 with engineers Jan Erik Kongshaug and Terje Hellem. This album is a mix of electronic and acoustic music, and it broadly represents the kind of music that the couple have been playing throughout the last couple of decades (1978-1999). John Surman is playing soprano and baritone saxes, bass and contrabass clarinets, piano and synthesizers, while Karin Krog is using her voice with different electronic voice effects. The music consists of originals by Krog/Surman. This album won the Norwegian award "Spellemannsprisen" in 1999. From 'The Penguin Guide To Jazz' by Richard Cook and Brian Morton (2002): "(4 stars). Immaculately recorded by Jan Erik Kongshaug at the legendary Rainbow Studio in Oslo, this fine duo set conjures up a huge range of timbres and tonalities, the product of now twenty years working as a duo. Krog's voice has rarely sounded better and Surman's finely developed accompaniments are deployed as effectively here as as on his solo records. The longer tracks are the most powerful, allowing both performers to stretch out, but the shorter pieces, like the mysterious 'Hidden Dreams's, are equally effective. The title-track is equally enigmatic, a terse central theme strung out across a rich, almost orchestral backdrop. Even when the arrangements are stripped down to basics, there is so much grain and texture to Surman's playing that one senses much larger forces at work. An exceptional record."