The Ivors Jazz Award - John Surman

The Ivors Jazz Award is so special it’s only ever been handed out once before (in 2012, to legendary pianist/composer Stan Tracey). So there can be no doubt that John Surman is an utterly worthy recipient.

Surman’s remarkable career has shaped the genre in the UK in a way that few others have even come close to. He began his career in the mid-‘60s as a saxophonist and clarinet player and a brilliant one too, but it’s for his jazz compositions that BASCA are honouring him today.

And Surman’s writing covers a much wider range than you would generally expect in any one genre. He was always an innovator as a musician – he was one of the first jazzmen to experiment with using synthesisers in the early ‘70s – and his moves as a writer have been every bit as bold.

After all, Surman is the man behind everything from Proverbs & Songs – composed for saxophones, pipe organ and the Salisbury Festival Chorus and so startling a piece of work it was nominated for the Mercury Prize – to choral pieces such as Songs For A Coastal Wind and Lifelines.

His work always remains respectful of the jazz tradition, but pulls in influences from everywhere from classical music to folk as he puts his individual stamp on everything he turns his hand to. No wonder The Guardian praised him for helping “European jazz to evolve in ways it now takes for granted” while The Times simply dubbed him “perhaps the most gifted British jazzman of this generation”.

He continues to push at boundaries today – recent releases such as Saltash Bells and The Spaces In Between have been amongst the most well-received of his career. Who knows when The Ivors Jazz Award will come along next but, until it does, the genre is in very safe hands…