Jonathan Stevens
b. 10 June 1940, Brentford, Middlesex, England, d. 13 September 1994, London, England. Stevens, whose father was a tap dancer, studied at Ealing Junior Art School and Ealing College of Higher Education. In 1958 he joined the Air Force, where he played drums in various bands after studying at the RAF's Music School. He spent three and a half years in Cologne, where he was able to see concerts by modern players such as John Coltraneand Eric Dolphy; there he also played with future German avant gardists, Manfred Schoofand Alex von Schlippenbach. The late '50s skiffle boom had awakened his interest in blues and jazz—both New Orleans and modern—and back in England he played with Joe Harriott, Ellsworth ‘Shake’ Keane and Tubby Hayes. By 1964 he was centrally involved with modern jazz in London, playing with Ronnie Scott and Stan Tracey, then joining a quartet that comprised Jeff Clyne, Ian Carrand Trevor Watts, whom he had met in the RAF in 1958 and who would become one of his most frequent collaborators over the next 10 years. In 1965 he formed a septet that included Kenny Wheeler, Alan Skidmore and Ron Mathewson and, together with Watts and Paul Rutherford (another ex-RAF colleague), he also initiated the Spontaneous Music Ensemble, a launchpad for many free improvising musicians. In 1966, Stevens began organizing concerts at the Little Theatre Club, which rapidly became the epicentre of the new British jazz. Stevens moved back into more mainstream areas with the group Splinters in 1971, which he co-led with fellow-drummer Phil Seamen. In 1971, he formed the John Stevens Dance Orchestra and, in 1974, Away, his jazz-rock group. During this time he recorded and toured with John Martyn. In 1982, he formed Freebop and Folkus (their musical inclinations can be read from their names). In 1985, he published a book of workshop techniques, something he had been involved with since the mid-60s, winning the 1972 Thames Television award for community work. From 1983 he directed the UK Jazz Centre Society's Outreach Community Project, nurturing the talents of prominent figures in the mid-80s jazz revival, including Courtney Pine. In 1988, LIVE TRACKS brought together many of his collaborators, including Pine, USA trumpeter Bobby Bradford, UK saxophonists Pete King and Evan Parker and trombonist Annie Whitehead, in a celebration of the joys of untrammelled bop-based improvisation.