THE TRIO (SURMAN-PHILLIPS-MARTIN) "PRAGUE 1970 / MOERS 1976"

 Barre Phillips (October 27, 1934 – December 28, 2024) R.I.P.

John Surman, bariton & soprano saxophone, bass clarinet
Barre Phillips, double bass
Stu Martin, drums

Track 1
a. announcement (0:48)
b. Billy The Kid / Let's Stand / Foyer Hall / In Between / Silvercloud / Caractacus 22:57

Recorded on October 24, 1970 at 7th Czechoslovakian Jazz Festival in Prague.
(pre-fm)

Track 2
a. announcement Köhn 2:02
b. Time Life 32:00

Recorded on June 6, 1976 at 5th New Jazz Festival in Moers.
(pre-fm)

see a.o. also here

The Trio - 'By Contact'

As announced in the previous post, here is the final entry in the Trio discography. Nominally the third, if one discounts "Conflagration" which was not strictly speaking a Trio record, though with the Trio at its core. We have posted the first double album which has been reissued on cd and the "Live in Altena" which had a limited circulation back then and has not been officially rereleased.

This one was out on the Ogun label in 1987, 16 years after its being recorded in the Tangerine Studios in London. There's a misprint on the back sleeve saying it was recorded in 1979, but by then the Trio had long disbanded. It was remastered at the Rainbow Studios in Olso in 1986. This studio was reguarly used for ECM recordings and by then John Surman had pretty much shifted to ECM as his main outlet. So it is more than likely that Surman had kept the master tapes and asked the studio to do a remastering job on them. But ECM didn't release them.

Six pieces on this record:

Side 1
Flyover (John Surman)
Open Brown (Barre Phillips)

Side2
Utah, Oregon (Stu Martin)
Noninka (Stu Martin)
Cant (Barre Phillips)
In The Round (Martin, Phillips, Surman)

Stu Martin - drums
Barre Phillips - double bass
John Surman - baritone and soprano saxes, bass clarinet, cornet

As the other Trio records, this is very much a collabarative effort with composition credits liberally divided among the three. This one has the novelty of hearing Surman on the cornet. I'm not sure if this was a one-off thing, because I can't recall Surman playing cornet regularly later. On other tracks, he switches to bass clarinet and soprano sax, though it's the baritone that is his main instrument throughout. Moodwise, it shifts from ferocity to placidity, with Stu Martin supplying the former and Barre Phillips the latter, at least to these ears.

The final three pieces pieces on the second side pretty much run together, so I haven't put in track markers. It's fairly easy to hear the transition points as Surman picks up another instrument to head into the next tune. For more details, please consult the extensive liner notes by Charles Fox on the back of the sleeve, attached to this post.

Up next: The Berlin Jazztage 1969 concert

THE TRIO "LIVE IN GÖTTINGEN, 1970"

Something special.. a wonderful concert by the Trio..One of the great post bop outfits of the late 60’s early 70’s.
Most people, will be familiar enough with the work of John Surman and Barre Phillips both of whom are by now elder statesmen of the European jazz and contemporary improvised music scenes.
Both have carved out significant careers and recorded prolifically coming to prominence among the general listening public through recordings on the ECM label.
Less is known about Stu Martin, who like Phillips was an expat American living in Europe at the time(Phillips lives in France and has done for nearly 30 years).

Stu martin started his career in the late 50’s first appearing with Maynard Ferguson’s Orchestra, by the 60’s he was recording with the likes of,Art Farmer and Lee konitz (a prime example being zo-ko-ma on mps also featuring Phillips,Atilla Zoller and Albert Mangelsdorff).

The trio formed in October 1969 and lasted about two years in which time they recorded the magnificent self titled dawn double lp , and in early 71 ‘Conflagration” still available on the Bgo label.
This concert features a lot of the material from the Dawn set…to my ears even more ferociously driving.
A stunning set in superb sound.
Many thanks to the seeders/traders Jazzrita and to B.


The Trio
1970-October-12
Göttingen, Germany,
Centre (later renamed Podium), 1970

John Surman, bs, ss, bcl
Barre Phillips, b
Stu Martin, dr
APROXIMATELY 2HOURS AND 10 MINUTES!!
ENJOy

surman, phillips,martin 'the trio' 1970

hi all heres a marvelous 2 lp set by famed and revered early 70's freejazz legends the trio. in the late sixties master american bassist barre phillips relocated to europe settling on britain initially(he now lives in france) phillips had made a name in free jazz circles playing with the likes of archie shepp(he appears on the shepp double lp, further fire music),and the maverick composer,clarinetist jimmy guiffre's 1965-66 trio .

phillips was the 1st bassist to record an entirely solo album in 1968,at around that time he also

played and recorded with the spontaneous music ensemble, barry guy's jazz composers orchestra and many others he continues to record sporadicaly.

john surman the best known of these 3 has an extensive catalog of recordings to his credit including many on the ecm lable.

stu martin was a friend (and american compatriot)of phillips who died quite young.

to my knowledge he played with paul bley, and appears on other recordings by barre phillips.

he'd grown up in the bronx and been a close friend of barry altschul's, another fine drummer.

to my knowledge this masterpiece has only been sporadically available.

there was a reissue on cd in the early 90's , but thats gone.

THIS ALBUM HAS BEEN PROVIDED BY 'BOROMIR 'A FRIEND OF THIS BLOG

thanks for this rip boromir.

PLEASE BUY CD'S BY THESE ARTISTS,

heres a postscript in the form of an email exerpt

Hi

I've uploaded the two Surman discs. Here are the links:- Disk 1 - http://rapidshare.com/files/21480178/Trio1.rar.html-Scans are attached. Rapidshare ground to a halt when I was trying to upload the second disk. If you think they ought both to be on the same host, let me know and I'll try again. The records have no inter-track gaps, one tune runs into another so I've not attempted to split them, so it's one mp3 file per album side.I'm happy for you you to post them to your blog. I am not particularly looking for credit, you can mention my moniker or not, as you wish. I'm just happy that someone else has the opportunity to enjoy otherwise forgotten music.

Incidentally, we lost the cricket (to NZ) and lost at rugby to Wales today ! Not a good day.

NB) THANKS TO 'CURVED AIR ' FOR NOTIFYING US OF THE EXPIRY OF THE LINK TO PART 2) HERE IS THE NEW LINK- http://www.divshare.com/download/292318-b1f