Derek Bailey was an English avant-garde guitarist and an important figure in the free improvisation movement. Bailey abandoned conventional performance techniques found in jazz, exploring atonality, noise, and whatever unusual sounds he could produce with the guitar. Much of his work was released on his own label Incus Records. In addition to solo work, Bailey collaborated frequently with other musicians and recorded with collectives such as Spontaneous Music Ensemble and Company.
George Lowen Coxhill known professionally as Lol Coxhill, was an English free improvising saxophonist. He played soprano and sopranino saxophone.
Steve Beresford is a British musician who graduated from the University of York He has played a variety of instruments, including piano, electronics, trumpet, euphonium, bass guitar and a wide variety of toy instruments, such as the toy piano. He has also played a wide range of music. He is probably best known for free improvisation, but has also written music for film and television and has been involved with a number of pop music groups.
John William Stevens was an English drummer, and a founding member of the Spontaneous Music Ensemble.
Evan Shaw Parker is a British tenor and soprano saxophone player who plays free improvisation.
Barry John Guy is an English composer and double bass player. His range of interests encompasses early music, contemporary composition, jazz and improvisation, and he has worked with a wide variety of orchestras in the UK and Europe. He studied at the Guildhall School of Music under Buxton Orr, and later taught there.
Emanem Records is a record company and independent record label founded in London, England in 1974 by Martin Davidson and Madelaine Davidson to record free improvisation.
Paul William Rutherford was an English free improvising trombonist.
John Butcher is an English tenor and soprano saxophone player.
Trevor Charles Watts is an English jazz and free-improvising alto and soprano saxophonist.
Edwin John Prévost is an English percussionist who founded the free improvisation group, AMM.
Maggie Nicols, is a Scottish free-jazz and improvising vocalist, dancer, and performer.
Liam Genockey is an Irish musician, who is the drummer with British folk rock band Steeleye Span.
The Bracknell Jazz Festival was a major showcase for British modern jazz in the 1980s. The festival was known for attracting a largish audience for free improvisation, modern jazz composition and all kinds of British modern jazz in general.
Phil Minton is a British avant-garde jazz/free-improvising vocalist and trumpeter.
John Howard Riley is an English pianist and composer, who worked in jazz and experimental music idioms.
Roger Turner is an English jazz percussionist. He plays the drumset, drums, and various percussion, and was brought up into the jazz and visual art cultures inhabited by his older brothers, playing drums from childhood in informal jazz contexts.
Larry Stabbins is a British jazz saxophonist, flutist and composer.
John Russell was an acoustic guitarist who worked in free improvisation beginning in the 1970s. He promoted concerts and appeared on more than 50 recordings.
