One of the founding fathers of free improvisation in Britain. In the mid-'60s, Stevens helped found Spontaneous Music Ensemble (SME), an influential group that included most of England's top experimental jazz musicians. The band's lineup evolved and fluctuated, but at one time or another Paul Rutherford, Trevor Watts, Derek Bailey, Evan Parker, Kenny Wheeler, and Julie Tippetts were among the members. Stevens' father was a tap dancer, a factor in his decision to become a musician. Stevens joined the Royal Air Force in 1958, where he studied music formally and met other like-minded musicians, in particular Watts and Rutherford. While in the service he played with skiffle and Dixieland bands. Stevens' interest in jazz seems to have followed a natural curve; bebop was his first language (he played with hard bop saxophonist Tubby Hayes), followed by the free jazz dialects of the Giuffre-Bley-Swallow trio and Albert Ayler. He became one of the top modern jazz drummers in London during the mid-'60s.
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