John Stevens

John William Stevens (10 June 1940 – 13 September 1994) was an English drummer, and a founding member of the Spontaneous Music Ensemble.
Stevens was born in Brentford, Middlesex, England, the son of a tap dancer. He listened to jazz as a child but was more interested in drawing and painting, through which he expressed himself throughout his life. He studied at the Ealing Art College and then started work in a design studio, but left at 19 to join the Royal Air Force. He studied the drums at the Royal Air Force School of Music in Uxbridge, and while there met Trevor Watts and Paul Rutherford, two musicians who became close collaborators.
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==Links to Peel==
John Stevens was one of the leading spokesmen for free jazz in Britain, and although it wasn't a genre Peel was especially keen on, people in his circle like producers John Muir and John Walters were more enthusiastic. JP was curious enough to play at least one track from Stevens' band, the Spontaneous Music Ensemble, on Night Ride. In 1968 the SME recorded an LP for Island Records, at a time when the label was signing many artists who interested Peel. It had the hippyish-sounding title "Karyobin (Are the imaginary birds said to live in paradise)" and the DJ played part of it on NR.
In 1969, another rock-oriented label, Giorgio Gomelsky's Marmalade Records (whose artists included Julie Driscoll, Brian Auger's Trinity and Blossom Toes) issued an album by them. In October of that year the SME were on the bill at a gig hosted by Peel at University College, London, and 1970 he introduced them at the Barking College Arts Festival, Dagenham, with the Liverpool Scene (who on the sleeve of their LP Bread On The Night had referred to the "Spontaneous Rubbish Ensemble").
When John Stevens changed style and formed the fusion band Away, the band did a session for his show in 1976. Around the same time, Stevens worked in a trio fronted by John Martyn with bassist Danny Thompson. but Peel paid little attention to his later work with the SME and other free jazz ensembles. These were more likely to be heard on BBC Radio Three's jazz programmes. Julie Driscoll, by then known as Julie Tippetts, appeared on some of the SME's later recordings, but apart from her the only band member who received any airplay on Peel shows was bassist Dave Holland, who played on Karyobin and then in Miles Davis's electric band at the start of the 1970s.
==Sessions==
;John Stevens' Away
1. Recorded: 1976-05-27. First Broadcast: 07 June 1976. Repeated: 16 July 1976
*Anni / Can't Explain / Spirit Of Peace
==Other Shows Played==
*03 July 1968: Spontaneous Music Ensemble: Part I (LP - Karyōbin) Island
==External Links==
*Wikipedia
*Discogs
Category:Artists