In the early 1970s Tony Bevan started playing soprano saxophone, inspired by Captain Beefheart and Terry Riley. Lol Coxhill gave him his first lesson and a sense of the instrument’s potential. Subsequently Bevan has also taken up tenor and bass saxophones. After completing a philosophy degree at Southampton University, he participated in open sessions at the London Musicians Collective, where he met Steve Beresford and other second generation improvisors. Later Bevan became involved with the Oxford Improvisers Collective. In 1988 he played with Derek Bailey’s Company and issued his first CD on Incus. Bevan now runs his own Foghorn label, which has issued recordings of his work with John Edwards in Sunny Murray’s European trio and performances by Bruise, the quintet Bevan has run with Edwards, Mark Sanders, Orphy Robinson and Ashley Wales. In 2009 Bevan toured in a quartet with Joe Morris, Dominic Lash and Tony Buck, and in 2010 with Buck, Matthew Bourne and Barre Phillips.
