"As an improvising big band leader to solo performer, Mick is known for his energy and originality: his playing covers the full emotional gamut from heartbreaking to mischievous, and from abstract to compelling swing. His improvising big band FeetPackets was unique in the UK and influential in the late 1980s. In the 1990s he led many small groups including the powerful free jazz trio Something Else with Paul Hession and Simon Fell, which released two acclaimed CDs. Since the millennium, Beck's ground-breaking work with the mysterious and humorous bassoon, supplemented by his use of other wind instruments add many new sounds and moods. His technical innovations and musical ideas are often a source of inspiration to his collaborators on stage, and he works with many of free music's best-known exponents. He is based in Sheffield, plays regularly in London and elsewhere in the UK, and from time to time in Spain, Germany, Austria, Canada and Australia.
He has worked with many great musicians from saxists J.D. Parran to Alan Wilkinson, from guitarists Derek Bailey to Hugh Metcalf, from percussionists Tony Buck to Steve Noble and Paul Hession, from bassists Marcio Mattos to Rainer Kuhn and Simon Fell, from pianists Chris Burn to Stephen Grew and Pat Thomas
Current projects include:
Gated Community - In 2005 Beck initiated a new 15-piece workshop band to re-explore the interaction of composition and improvisation. Ideal for festival performances. Solo tours particularly featuring bassoon, eg Madrid, Barcelona, Australia, London. Work with master drummer Paul Hession as a duo (recent tours to Canada and Germany), and with other musicians (e.g., Derek Bailey leading to issue of CD Meanwhile back in Sheffield (May 2005); Dave Tucker leading to CD Shkrang.
"Beck's abstract resources extend to all manner of whistles and squeals, but his tenor sax playing is a resourceful development of Evan Parker's".
"…pushed along by Beck's scorching post-Ayler tenor sax";Jazzwise November 2005
"Able to double- and triple-tongue on a double reed, he creates dissonant textures you wouldn't associate with the usual orchestral instrument". The Guardian, May 2005
"Beck produces sounds that range from the reverberations of a bull moose’s cry to the kazoo-like squeaks of shredding comb-and-tissue-paper. Proving he can play those Tubby-the-tuba low notes, the saxophonist mostly lets the instrument’s natural echo illuminate the pieces"
"Turbulently squeezing out distorted burrs and smeary spit, Beck attacks the tune with ascending reed trills."
"He plays the tenor with conviction that can border on lawlessness", and "Mick Beck has been causing jaws to drop … He has been doing it by playing the bassoon … He is now getting something personal and unheralded out of the bassoon". The Wire
