John Surman, John Warren - Tales of the Algonquin [British Jazz Explosion Series]

Continuing the ‘British Jazz Explosion’ vinyl reissue series is John Surman, John Warren / Tales of the Algonquin. This album was recently included in Jazzwise Magazine’s “The 100 Jazz Albums That Shook The World” and they praised it with “The Big Beast of the Brit-Jazz golden age” & “The masterpiece that is”. The jazz collectors’ bible, The Penguin Guide to Jazz awarded the album with a coveted crown and it was complemented further with “masterpiece, conceived on a grand scale, meticulously executed and marked by superb soloing… legendary status among British jazz fans”. In 2005 for a CD review of the album, John Fordham at The Guardian wrote “This is a significant UK jazz document - but it's a richly colourful piece of large-scale jazz-making first and foremost” as well as giving it four stars.

Since the album’s original release in 1971, it has continued to be on critics’ radars and jazz fans’ wants-lists. Featuring a 16-piece band with a 27 year old Surman, it’s a rich sound full of twists and turns – some with Surman’s heavy Coltrane influenced playing, helped along with John Taylor’s beautiful piano, positioned artfully with Warren’s band – sixteen members that also include Mike Osborne, Stan Sulzmann, Barre Phillips, Harry Miller, Alan Jackson, Stu Martin, John Taylor, Alan Skidmore, Harry Beckett and Kenny Wheeler, a.o.

Reissued on vinyl as a limited print run with thick card ‘flip-back’ laminated sleeve plus a 12x12 insert with new in-depth liner notes by Tony Higgins with interviews by Surman, Warren and the album producer Peter Eden.