David Bedford

Rock music comprises only a small corner of David Bedford's activities in music. Bedford was an avant garde composer of some repute before he ever stepped into the rock arena, where he became associated with progressive/New Age composer Mike Oldfield, as the conductor and orchestrator on several of his works. He has also worked as a conductor and orchestrator with Elvis Costello, Roy Harper, A-ha, the Jesus and Mary Chain, Frankie Goes To Hollywood, and Madness, among other performers. He emerged as a rock composer during the mid-1970's in the wake of his work with Oldfield on Tubular Bells, with the progressive rock concept albums The Rime of the Ancient Mariner and The Odyssey. Bedford's involvement with rock music came about by accident. His real field and career lie in the realm of contemporary classical music, where he was well established long before he ever got involved with Oldfield. He was educated at the Royal Academy of Music and Trinity College, London, and taught for a time at the Whitfield School in Hendon. He was composer-in-resident at Queens College, London, from 1969 through 1981, and is an Associate Visiting Composer at Gordonstoun, Scotland. His career as a serious avant garde composer began in the late 1960's, and he crossed over into popular music in the wake of his scoring of a theatrical work called From Marie Antoinette To the Beatles. This project brought him into contact with the manager of the Soft Machine, who hired Bedford to orchestrate Joy of a Toy, the first solo album by the group's founder, Kevin Ayers, released on EMI's progressive rock Harvest label. He became the keyboard player in Ayers' band, not only on that record but those that followed, and he also performed with the group in concert. It was in Ayers' band that he first met...