Montag, 26.01.2004, 20.00
WIST, Graz

Blind Date: Steve Beresford meets Noël Akchoté

Steve Beresford	piano, toys & electronics
Noël Akchoté	guitars

Blind Date: I guess if Steve and I would exactely knew what we would do by that time it would not be precisely improvised anymore. And i intend to mean by "improvised" the fact that anything from our respective activities and musical past could be thrown into the play at any given time or more unexected moments. I could also give you a detailed program, forget by then that i did so and it may happen on the day of the concert that some of these tunes would come back under my fingers. Could be "Coktails for two", "West End Blues", "Nuages" or "Like a Virgin" but it could also be a block of noise or delightful whistles. One may not say until it happens. Let’s now look at what Steve Beresford and myself could have already had in common. We played and recorded with Lol Coxhill, with Mike Cooper, with Derek Bailey, Mark Sanders, Matt Wand. We use to record for the french label Nato, we write in magazines, we enjoy songs and tunes, jazz and abstractions, experiments and loads of other things. It’s just that he rather plays piano and i try to play guitar but still a lot could happen. (N.A.)

Steve Beresford (*1950, GB) plays piano, trumpet, euphonium, voice, low-grade electronics, bass guitar, small intruments; works as composer, arranger, and has been involved in hundreds of music projects, from free improvisation, through jazz, to pop, reggae and film scores.
"Being involved in improvised music was the single most important factor in developing my understanding of music. Playing improvised music was a liberating force, a culture where you could ignore conventional rules, build up and formulate your own individual technique."
Steve Beresford did so with artists and groups like Derek Bailey, Han Bennink, Shaking Ray Levis and Catherine Jauniaux, John Butcher, John Zorn, Ikue Mori, Arto Lindsay, Christian Marclay, Lol Coxhill to name just a few. Beresford has been visiting lecturer at Oslo Art Academy and in Reykjavik, has taught audio production at Southampton Institute, teaches piano as well as arranging, innovation, new music and film music at the University of Westminster.

Noël Ackchoté: Born in Paris ( France ) in 1968, guitarist composer Noël Akchoté appears on over 300 albums. He worked with David Grubbs, Marc Ribot, Derek Bailey, Sam Rivers, Lol Coxhill, John Mc Entire, Evan Parker, Blixa Bargeld, Keith Rowe, Fred Frith, Philippe Katerine, Claire Denis, Otomo Yoshihide, Louis Sclavis, Eugene Chadbourne, Joelle Léandre, Daido Moriyama, Jean-Louis Costes, Arto Lindsay, Peter Scherer, Stock,Hausen and Walkman, Luc Ferrari and many more. Numberless CD-releases, e.g. Winter & Winter and Rectangle