John Stevens' Away

UK experimental jazz-rock band, active in the 2nd half of the 70s.
In 1975, the British drummer artist 292493 (artist 207925) decided to try his hand at jazz-rock, a genre of music that was quite popular at the time. But unlike groups such us artist 70826 or artist 41893, John Stevens' Away had a freer, more abstract approach to the sound, and, last but not least, without resorting to keyboards. The initial line-up was fronted by Stevens with his inveterate musical confrere and artist 207925 co-founder artist 292500. On electric bass was artist 924470 (from prog band artist 788003) and on guitar artist 1348426 (from US country prog combo artist 393493). After recording two demos and playing at BBC Radio 3's "Jazz In Britain", Stevens, thanks to the help of producer Terry Jason, signed a record deal with Phonogram's Vertigo in late 1975. Their debut "John Stevens' Away" was recorded 'live' at the Quartier Latin, Berlin, Germany in November 1975. By the early spring of 1976, John Stevens was leading a new incarnation of his group. The original line-up was dissolved, replaced by four new members that expanded the group to a quintet. With Nick Stephens (electric bass), artist 320157 (acoustic bass), artist 380594 (electric guitar) and Robert Calvert (2) (tenor & soprano saxophone), were released a single and the 2nd album "Somewhere In Between", both in 1976. In May of the same year they appeared on British TV for the 1st time, on the BBC programme "The Old Grey Whistle Test" and also recorded three tracks in a session for BBC Radio One's "The John Peel Show". In September 1976 they played still at BBC Radio 3's "Jazz In Britain". In October 1976 the band was back in the Phonogram Studios to recording the 3rd album. "Mazin Ennit" was issued in 1977 and featured the same line-up of previous LP. The group supported the album with countless gigs and a 2nd and final appearance on "The Old Grey Whistle Test". Vertigo dropped the band in 1977, but that wasn't to be the end of them. A new incarnation of Away resurfaced in 1978 with another "Jazz In Britain" broadcast that preceded their 4th album "Integration" (1979). In 1983 Stevens finally put an end to the story of Away when he launched another ensemble, artist 3032467.