steve beresford
Tuesday, July 31st, 2007
PERFORMANCE OF JANUARY 28, 1978 AT THE LONDON MUSICIANS COLLECTIVE, LONDON
Gary Todd Quartet: Gary Todd / tenor saxophone, Nigel Coombes / violin, Steve Beresford / piano, euphonium, violin, guitar, drums, toys, etc., Roger Turner / percussion, piano, violin, etc.
PERFORMANCE OF FEBRUARY 9, 1978 AT NORTH LONDON POLY, LONDON
David Toop / flutes, bass recorder, etc., Steve Beresford / piano, euphonium, violin, guitar, drums, toys, etc.
PERFORMANCE OF FEBRUARY 10, 1978 AT THE LONDON MUSICIANS COLLECTIVE, LONDON.
Steve Beresford / piano, euphonium, violin, guitar, drums, toys, etc., John Russell / guitar, Roger Turner / percussion, alto sax, piano, etc., Carlos Alves / violin.
“We see and hear and otherwise experience very largely as we do because the language habits of our community predispose certain choices of interpretation.” Edward Sapir
I thought it might be interesting to look at the work of Steve Beresford through his participation in three groups, none of which he was the “leader” of (if that term carries any meaning any longer in improvised music). His playing is perhaps the most “controversial” of the English players involved in free improvisation, and it certainly forces the listener to re-evaluate what he thinks might be going on in terms of “communication”/creation. My remarks on his playing in a recent review as “…a continual setting-up and dismantling of musical situations which the other players may or may not respond to” seem to hold up on seeing him perform live; the setting-up and dismantling together create the loosest of musical structures, yet perhaps that causes the other players (and audience) to work that much harder in creating an overall form to the piece (not that Beresford doesn’t work at this as well, and also to the opposite effect). This fact may be seen as a possible example of the music moving out into areas beyond those normally explored in free improvisation.
