Veryan Weston is best known for his work with such British avant-garde and jazz musicians as vocalist Phil Minton and saxophonists Lol Coxhill and Trevor Watts. He moved from Cornwall to London at the age of 22, where he began working as a freelance jazz pianist. In 1975, he received a fellowship from the Digswell Arts Trust in Hertfordshire that allowed him to revise a book he'd written on piano improvisation. While at Digswell, he co-founded and composed for the group Stinky Winkles (which also included saxophonist Simon Picard), and collaborated with potter Liz Fritsch and visual artist Stephen Cochrane. He also composed and performed music for film, the most notable being his work with Lol Coxhill on director Derek Jarman's Caravaggio (1986). Weston's interest in multimedia presentations led him to earn a degree in performance art from Middlesex University. He also earned a master's degree in music composition from Goldsmith's College University in London. In the '80s and '90s, Weston worked with (among others) the Eddie Prevost Quartet and Trevor Watts Moiré Music, in duos with Minton and Coxhill, and in a trio with bassist John Edwards and drummer Mark Sanders (as heard on the 1999 album Mercury Concert). Weston has recorded for a number of labels, including Emanem, Matchless, Acta, Ogun, and Leo. In addition to being a prominent free jazz-oriented musician, Weston is an accomplished mainstream jazz pianist, and has also issued recordings that meld elements of modern composition with contemporary improvisation. Among his notable albums during the 21st century are the Emanem releases Tessellations for Luthéal Piano (2003), Allusions (2009), and Different Tessellations (2011), as well as several recordings made in his improvisational duo with saxophonist Watts: 6 Dialogues (2002), 5 More Dialogues (2011), and Dialogues in Two Places (2012). ~ Chris Kelsey