Jer Reid guitar
Tony Bevan bass saxophone, harmonicas
I’ve played with Tony a few times, at both his warmly welcoming Help Me, I’m Melting sessions and when I've invited him to play in Burghead Expanded at The Glad Café.
It’s Glasgow’s great fortune to have had Tony living and playing here all these years and whenever he asks me to play that comes sharply into focus.
This is the first time we have played as a duo.
When he suggested doing the session it was a good push for me to raise my daily playing to work towards the gig. I wanted to feel ready, because Tony always is.
Thanks to Tony, to everyone at the Old Hairdressers and to Rafe Fitzpatrick.
[Jer Reid]
Jer Reid is a musician, sound engineer and dramaturge living in Glasgow. He started playing music in noisy guitar bands in the early 1990’s when he was also a member of the Glasgow Music Collective and he began his own label, Gruff Wit Records. He still plays in bands, like sumshapes and Painted X-Ray and improvises in many configurations and projects, including as Claquer with writer Lisa Fannen. With Solène Weinachter he started the music/ dance improvising group Collective Endeavours in 2011 which through it’s rigour and the diverse viewpoints of it’s members was instrumental in shaping his approach to improvising. He has been a member of the Glasgow Improvisers Orchestra since 2014. Since 2018 he has run the GIOdynamics open sessions for GIO. Now twice a month. Once online and once in person at The Glad Cafe. These sessions are open to everyone.
jerreid.com
Described by Ben Watson as "one of the unsung heroes of modern British music", Tony Bevan is an improvising virtuoso on Soprano, Tenor and Bass saxophones. Growing up in Aylesbury, he was mentored by the great Lol Coxhill. He later became involved with London Musicians Collective and Oxford Musicians Collective, leading to an invitation to play Derek Bailey's international symposium of improvisers, COMPANY in 1988. He subsequently released several albums on Bailey's INCUS as well as recording with Bailey himself. Bevan has played with the likes of Sunny Murray, Steve Reid, John Edwards, Mark Sanders and Phil Minton as well as leading his own groups.
Bevan currently lives in Glasgow, where he runs the fortnightly improvised music session Help Me, I’m Melting. In addition to collaborating with members of the local music scene such as Fritz Welch, Una MacGlone, Jer Reid and Bill Whitmer, Bevan invites visiting musicians such as Eddie Prévost, Ashley Wales, Seth Bennett and Johnny Hunter. His label, Foghorn Records, has documented some of these sessions, alongside studio and live dates with Tony Buck, Joe Morris, Jeb Bishop and Sunny Murray.
www.thewire.co.uk/in-writing/essays/sunny-murray-1936-2017-eye-of-the-storm
tonybevan.bandcamp.com