Bobby Bradford with John Stevens and the Spontaneous Music Ensemble

Personnel: John Stevens (drum, percussion); Bobby Bradford (trumpet); Julie Tippetts (vocals, guitar); John Stevens Jr. (vocals, drums, percussion); Trevor Watts (sopranino saxophone, soprano saxophone, alto saxophone); Bob Norden, Bob Norden (trombone); Ron Herman (bass instrument).
Liner Note Author: Max Harrison.
Recording information: Polydor Studios, London, England (07/09/1971).
Photographer: David Redfern.
An unlikely but fortunate meeting of two avant-jazz heavyweights came about in the early 1970s during an extended holiday trip to London made by trumpeter Bobby Bradford. Arranging an impromptu session with drummer John Stevens (a founding father of British free improvisation) and his group, Spontaneous Music Ensemble, Bradford appeared on two classic volumes for the Nessa label, both originally released in 1971. The two complementary sets are reissued here under the slightly confusing title (given the name of the Stevens-led group) SPONTANEOUS MUSIC ENSEMBLE. Bradford here is in excellent company and sounds more forceful than on his typically reserved contributions for clarinetist John Carter. Dynamic playing from Stevens, along with saxophonist Trevor Watts, trombonist Bob Norden, bassist Ron Herman, and vocalist Julie Tippetts, anchor these performances in a style somewhere between the freewheeling post-bop of Ornette Coleman and the cerebral improvisations of European avant jazz.