John Surman - Westering Home

Westering Home was originally released in 1972.

John Surman plays everything on the album, drawing together many of the threads of his earlier recordings with the possibilities offered by technology (and his own prodigious musicality). "I took a break from being on the road. This was just around the time when mono had become stereo, and then - in a flash - multi-track recording became possible. I was fascinated by the possibilities of, say, three bass clarinets on different tracks improvising together. Plus I had a curiosity about 'radiophonics' and tape manipulation and Pierre Henry's musique concrete. So it was in that spirit that I started work on what was to become Westering Home." Surman was born in Tavistock, North Devon. He initially gained recognition playing baritone saxophone in the Mike Westbrook Band in the mid-1960s, and was soon heard regularly playing soprano saxophone and bass clarinet as well.

Surman developed a fearsome reputation as a prolific collaborator and session musician, before recording a series of albums under his own name beginning with the eponymous John Surman in 1969. His relationship with ECM Records has been continuous from the late 1970s to the present; Surman has recorded prolifically for the label playing bass clarinet, recorders, soprano and baritone saxophones and using synthesizers, both solo and with a wide range of other musicians.