veryan weston - pianist

Born in 1950, and moved from Cornwall to London in 1972 and began playing as a freelance jazz pianist as well as developing as an improviser at Little Theatre Club.

1975-85: Residency & fellowship for Digswell Arts Trust (Hertfordshire). Activities included:

• Collaborations with visual artists (potter-Elizabeth Fritsch and fine artist Steve Cochrane).
• Work on written theoretical material, commissioned by The Digswell Arts Trust.
• Co-ordinating music workshops, supported by Eastern Arts Association.
• Co-founded and composed for young local group - Stinky Winkles, voted 'Young Musician of 1979' by Greater London Arts Association and won first prizes in France, Spain and Poland.
• Collaborations with Lol Coxhill, music for Derek Jarman Film. First released recordings.

Throughout 1980s and early 90s worked with Eddie Prévost Quartet, Trevor Watts' Moiré Music and Lol Coxhill and Phil Minton. Major festivals have included Zurich, Berlin, Nickelsdorf, Karlsruhr, Warsaw, Wroclaw, San Sebastian, Bombay, Vancouver, Nancy, Aukland, Nevers, Washington, Lille, Houston, Le Mans, Strasbourg, Bologna and Victoriaville.

Ensemble projects with Minton:

• Duo - Ways, Ways Past, and....Past - diverse songs, originals & improvisation structures.
• Songs from a Prison Diary - French commission for 25 singers with poems by Ho Chi Minh.
• Naming the Animals  -a quartet with Lianne Carol and Ian Shaw, words by Adrian Mitchell.
• Mouthfull of ecstasy - with John Butcher, Roger Turner, texts from Joyce's Finnegans wake.
• Makhno - for chamber choir ?commissioned by Taktlos Festival 1997.
• 4Walls - a quartet with songs and improvisations with Luc Ex and Michael Vatcher.

Other recent duo collaborations with:

• Caroline Kraabel - duets that explore acoustic phenomena related to two instruments and how these sounds interact in specific acoustic spaces.
• Trevor Watts - exploring new possibilities in an open improvising situation.
• Jon Rose - improvisations using different acoustic keyboards and violins with selected tunings derived from science, history and the imagination.
• Hugh Metcalfe - Films by Hugh, images of objects, animals, humans, holidays, journeys, unfold, transform, collide and provide the basis for accompanying duet improvisations.

Local activities:

• (1995-6) playing in rhythm section for 'Changes' jazz club in North London with British jazz artists.
• Awarded A4E National Lottery support to give series of workshops/concerts with John Edwards & Mark Sanders titled 'Playing Together' in East Anglia (1998).

Helped coordinate and arrange the Lindsay Cooper Song Project (1999). European festivals - Taktlos (Zurich), Angelica (Bologna, commissioned arrangement of "Oh Moscow" for orchestra), Moers (Germany) and Roccella Jonica (Italy).

Recent solo project 'Tessellations' for solo piano, supported by Peter Whittingham Foundation in 2000. The one hour piece is a series of improvisations devised as an exposition on relationships between closely connected pentatonic scales researched over 30 years. Concerts include: 1. TonArt Festival (for Swiss Radio in Basle), 2. Bordeaux, and talk to undergraduates at Bordeaux University Maths Faculty, 3. Brussels Museum of Musical Instruments on only original Lutheal Piano and 4. Granada, presentation of published paper titled New Pentatonic Scale Relationships with Visual Parallels at Joint Meeting of The International Society of the Arts, Mathematics, and Architecture and Bridges: Mathematical Connections in Art, Music, and Science.

Selected Discography

‘JOY OF PARANOIA’ (Ogun 525) with Lol Coxhill.

‘UNDERWATER CAROL’- This first solo album is a document from 1972-’87, a period when composition interested him (Matchless 13)

‘PLAYING ALONE’ (1996) - The second solo album is an example of work purely as an improviser (Acta 9)

‘DIGSWELL DUETS’ (Random Radar 005), and ‘THE INIMITABLE LOL COXHILL’ (Chabada OHR) are with Lol Coxhill whilst both at Digswell (1976-’84)

‘CONTINUUM’ (1983) with Eddie Prévost Quartet (Matchless 7), recently reissued on CD

‘TREVOR WATTS’ MOIRÉ MUSIC’ (1985) has some features for the pianist (Ark 02) and ‘WITH ONE VOICE’ (1988) re-issued on FMR (Legacy L1002).

Fruitful collaborations with Phil Minton have yielded:

‘WAYS’ (1987), ‘WAYS PAST’ (1992) and ‘…..past’ (2000) which are acclaimed duets which explore an extreme diversity of song repertoire and include original co-compositions (ITM & IDA Records). ‘Ways Out East, Ways Out West’ (Intakt 097) Two projects focus on Life of Ukrainian Anarchist Nestor Makhno as well as selected American Folks songs for voice & chamber organ

‘SONGS FROM A PRISON DIARY’ (1990) for 25 singers was awarded the Cornelius Cardew Prize in 1991 (Leo 196)

‘A MOUTHFULL OF ECSTASY’ (1996) is with a quartet with John Butcher (saxes) and Roger Turner (drums), using texts from Finnegans wake by James Joyce (Victo 041)

‘and the world aint square’ (2001) - 4Walls (red note no9) with Phil, Luc Ex - acoustic bass, Michael Vatcher – drums. ‘which side are you on’ (2003) – 4Walls new CD. Collaborations with Paul Haines more originals, arrangements of Brel, Schumann etc.  

‘BOUNDLESS’ (1998) - 15 duo improvisations with Lol Coxhill (EMANEM 4021);

‘concert v’ (1998) - duets with drummer Eddie Prévost (Matchless 34)

‘MERCURY CONCERT’ (1998) - a live trio recording with Mark Sanders & John Edwards (EMANEM 4028) ‘GATEWAY TO VIENNA’ released March 2005 – double CD of live concert in Vienna as well as studio session in South London.

‘UNEARTHED’ (1998) - A quartet with John Grieve, Stu Butterfield and John Edwards explore jazz standards with their own contemporary perspective (33 Records)

‘5 SHADOWS’ (1999 – 2000) – Duets from five differing locations in England with saxophonist Caroline Kraabel (EMANEM 4048)

‘3 PIANOS’ (EMANEM 4064) - Steve Beresford, Pat Thomas and Veryan Weston make use of  three good grand pianos at Gateway Studios in South London (2001)

'6 DIALOGUES' (EMANEM 4069) - duets with Trevor Watts recorded in London - 2002,

'WORMS ORGANISING ARCHDUKES' (EMANEM 4074), further duets with Lol Coxhill, this time taken from recent live performances in Europe

'TEMPERAMENT' (EMANEM 4207) duets with Jon Rose - a selection of improvisations using different tunings derived from science, history and the imagination

‘TESSELLATIONS FOR LUTHÉAL PIANO’ – (EMANEM 4095) – solo piece recorded live in the Brussels Museum of musical Instruments – March 2003

Degenerate Art Slideshow with relevant audio.