In 1974, RCA released the studio album Citadel/Room 315 by the Mike Westbrook Orchestra featuring John Surman, an hour-long suite penned and arranged by Westbrook. It is a pillar of Brit-jazz. This edition offers an earlier, in-process, previously unissued version of its debut from the catalog of progressive Brit-jazz. In 1973, the composer was commissioned by Swedish Radio to create a new work with saxophonist/clarinetist John Surman as principal soloist. After several drafts, the pair traveled to Sweden to perform for the first time with the country's finest jazz musicians. Remastered from the original master tapes by Caspar at Gearbox Records, Love and Understanding is a very different record than the polished studio album. It's kinetic, and at times minimally (and deliberately) chaotic, but the performance is one of total commitment by all players.
The brief, funky "Overture" is carried by guitarist Rune Gustafsson (founder, curator, and proprietor of the Rune Grammofon label). His groove introduces the eight-minute "Construction." While Gustaffson's six-string engages a furious wah-wah pedal, altoist Arne Domnérus delivers a labyrinthine solo without losing the funk, as Egil Johansen's tight, spidery drumming lies in the cut around the brass section. When Surman enters with a short soprano break, the jazz-rock energy is pushed to a new level. "Tender Love" is a ballad that commences with pianist Bengt Hallberg's sonorous investigation of the melody. "View from the Drawbridge" is another ballad that draws equally on Ellington and Gil Evans. Alongside Hallberg's gorgeous chord voicings and arpeggios, the orchestra's harmonic color frames Surman's dominant, glorious bass clarinet solo as it registers above. "Love and Understanding" is a groove-laden, jazz-funk tune with killer electric piano from Westbrook. Surman's bluesed-out bass clarinet solo dominates, as brass, winds, and reeds vamp behind him, laying out briefly when he quotes from Bobbie Gentry's "Ode to Billie Joe," in his solo before Westbrook shifts gears and takes them into Oliver Nelson-esque territory. At nearly 15 minutes, "Pastorale" is the set's longest track. It melds inspiration from Debussy, Bartok, Don Ellis, and Burt Bacharach simultaneously with Westbrook's own quirky yet adventurous harmonic sensibilities. That's matched by "Sleepwalker Awaking in Sunlight," which showcases wonderful soloing from Surman on tenor and Gustafsson's guitar. Throughout, Love and Understanding: Citadel/Room 315 Sweden, Westbrook’s compositions are precisely structured. He, Surman, and the elite Swedish Radio Jazz Group go deep in their pursuit of communicative emotion. The luminous nature of his music cannily balances jazz-rock with jazz balladry and hip cinematic orchestral themes with vanguard tonal and rhythmic queries; all are readily accessible. This set is a fantastic summation of everywhere Westbrook had been while pointing firmly toward the musical terrain he would explore soon after.