In conversation with Steve Beresford - Unpredictable: Conversations with Improvisers

'Unpredictable: Conversations with Improvisers’ is a collection of videos that have grown out of a deep research into the nature of Free Improvisation, its history in the UK and its international connections. The collection responds to the urgent need to investigate the genre and its rich legacy. Research and filming began in 2011. It was directed and produced by artist, curator and educator Blanca Regina in collaboration with Steve Beresford and Pierre Bouvier Patron. The series was commissioned by Sound and Music for the 50th anniversary of the British Music Collection.
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Steve Beresford was born in Wellington, Shropshire, UK in 1950. In 1974 he moved to London, playing piano with improvisers like Derek Bailey and also trumpet with the notorious Portsmouth Sinfonia.
Since the mid-1970s, he has worked with hundreds of people, including The Slits, Han Bennink, Christine Tobin, Ivor Cutler, Prince Far-I, Vic Reeves, Alan Hacker, Ray Davies, Ilan Volkov, Najma Akhtar, Evan Parker, Adrian Sherwood, The Flying Lizards, Stewart Lee, Otomo Yoshihide and John Zorn. Free improvisation is central, generally involving piano and/or electronics. He also writes songs, TV and film music, directs ensembles and has been known to sing and write.
He was a member of the groundbreaking group Alterations (1977-1986), with David Toop, Peter Cusack and Terry Day, which recently re-formed.
People he regularly performs with include Blanca Regina, Elaine Mitchener, Satoko Fukuda, Max Eastley, Mark Sanders, John Edwards, Orphy Robinson, Sarah Gail Brand, Mandhira De Saram and the London Improvisers Orchestra.
Beresford has co-curated a number of events with Blanca Regina, including the ongoing Strange Umbrellas series and a ten-day event Unpredictable, planned for April 2018 in Ambika P3, London.
He has had a long musical association with Swiss-American artist/musician Christian Marclay.
www.efi.group.shef.ac.uk/mbere...

[@written12]

His duos with that Japanese violinist are exceptional.