Steve Beresford
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Steve Beresford (born 1950) is a British musician who graduated from the University of York. He has played a variety of instruments, including piano, electronics, trumpet, euphonium, bass guitar and a wide variety of toy instruments, such as the toy piano. He has also played a wide range of music. He is probably best known for free improvisation, but has also written music for film and television and has been involved with a number of pop music groups.
Career
Beresford played in Derek Bailey's Company events and in the groups Alterations with David Toop, Terry Day and Peter Cusack, and the Three Pullovers with Nigel Coombes and Roger Smith. He was also a member with Gavin Bryars and Brian Eno of the Portsmouth Sinfonia.
Beresford has continued to play free improvisation with a number of prominent musicians, including Evan Parker, Lol Coxhill, John Zorn, and Han Bennink. He has collaborated extensively with Swiss-American artist/musician Christian Marclay and is an active member of the long-standing [1] London Improvisers Orchestra.
From 2010 he performed various pieces by John Cage, including Indeterminacy with Tania Chen and comedian Stewart Lee, and a performance with Ilan Volkov at The BBC Proms 2012 at The Royal Albert Hall in London.
He has also worked with a number of popular musicians, including Ray Davis, The Slits, Frank Chickens, Ted Milton and The Flying Lizards. In 2015 he performed a duoproject with the upcoming Norwegian singer Natalie Sandtorv at the Blow Out! festival in Oslo, Norway.
He was awarded a Paul Hamlyn Award for Artists in 2012. He is a senior lecturer on the Commercial Music course at University of Westminster.
Beresford's music and his teachings have inspired the musical community in the UK for over a decade. British songwriter and performer Katy Carr cites Steve Beresford's lectures on musical themes associated with Free improvisation, Experimental music, John Cage, musique concrète, Diamanda Galás and The Slits as a source of initial inspiration with regards to the creation of her debut album, Screwing Lies released in 2001.
Selected discography
A more complete discography can be found on European Free Improvisation website
- Teatime (Incus, 1975) with Nigel Coombes, John Russell, Dave Solomon, Garry Todd
- The Melody Four: La Paloma...: Chabada
- The Melody Four: Love Plays Such Funny Games: Chabada
- 1985: Steve Beresford His Piano & Orchestra: Eleven Songs for Doris Day: Chabada
- The Melody Four?: Si Señor: Chabada
- 1986: The Melody Four: T.V.? Mais oui!: Chabada
- Signals for Tea (Avant, 1995)
See also
- "Parts Of My Body" van General Strike (Steve Beresford & David Toop)
