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Keith Tippett

For over thirty years Keith Tippett has been at the forefront of contemporary European jazz and new music.

In the late 1960s, Tippett led a sextet featuring Elton Dean on saxophone, Mark Charig on trumpet and Nick Evans on trombone. Tippett married singer Julie Driscoll and wrote scores for TV.

In the early 1970s, his big band Centipede brought together much of a generation of young British jazz and rock musicians. As well as performing some concerts (limited economically by the size of the band), they recorded one double-album, Septober Energy.

He formed, with Harry Miller and Louis Moholo a formidable rhythm section at the centre of some of the most exciting combinations in the country, including the Elton Dean quartet, and Elton Dean's Ninesense. Around the same time, he was also in the vicinity of King Crimson, contributing piano to several of their records including "Cat Food" (and even appearing with them on Top of the Pops). His own groups, such as Ovary Lodge tended towards a more contemplative form of European free improvisation. He continued to perform with the improvising ensemble Mujician and later in (2006) Work in Progress.

Tippett appeared and recorded in a wide variety of settings, including a duet with Stan Tracey, duets with his wife Julie Tippetts, solo performances, and appeared on three King Crimson albums.

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Album Review

Elton Dean Quartet: On Italian Roads (Live in Milan 1979)

Read "On Italian Roads (Live in Milan 1979)" reviewed by Alberto Bazzurro


Registrato (su cassetta) il 25 febbraio 1979 al Teatro Cristallo di Milano, il nastro di questo concerto ha dovuto attendere la bellezza di quarantatré anni, ma alla fine, grazie alla caparbietà e alla dedizione alla causa di Riccardo Bergerone, che dell'odierno CD (in impeccabile digipack a sei facciate) condivide la responsabilità delle note di copertina con Roberto Ottaviano, è oggi disponibile per i nostri lettori e le nostre orecchie. Ed è un'autentica festa, perché, al di là ...

5
Album Review

Howard Riley / Keith Tippett: Journal Four

Read "Journal Four" reviewed by John Sharpe


British pianists Howard Riley and Keith Tippett were seasoned proponents of the never widespread format of the piano duet, both together and apart. Riley's partners also included Jaki Byard as well as overdubbed sessions with himself, while Tippett's discography contains entries with Stan Tracey, Daryl Runswick and Matthew Bourne (though the last took place subsequent to this 2016 concert at Soho's Pizza Express). Journal Four is indeed their fourth and, sadly, final, record documenting what proved a fertile and enduring ...

4
Profile

Keith Tippett: 100 Best Foots Forward

Read "Keith Tippett: 100 Best Foots Forward" reviewed by Duncan Heining


From the Albert Hall at twenty-two with a fifty-piece band to picking potatoes to make ends meet a decade later, Keith Tippett's life in music could sum up many a jazz career. After a grim '80s, things now look better for the composer, pianist and bandleader. “What I'm about to say is ridiculous but it was a marvellous coincidence that when Thatcher was ousted my career kicked in again," he says laughing. There are obviously more Tory jazz fans than ...

6
Profile

Keith Tippett: R.I.P.

Read "Keith Tippett: R.I.P." reviewed by Duncan Heining


Keith Tippett's death on Sunday, 14th June 2020 robbed British and European music of one of its finest talents. The death on any musician of even minor significance often leads many critics reaching for the Thesaurus and tripping over their adjectives in a head-rush of hyperbole. In Keith's case, the simple phrase--"one of music's finest talents"--cuts through the exaggeration and elevation of those less gifted like a blade. The sheer breadth and quality of Keith's work is astounding. I have ...

8
Album Review

Keith Tippett: The Unlonely Raindancer

Read "The Unlonely Raindancer" reviewed by Matt Parker


Some people find that solo piano albums, no matter how highly regarded they may be, struggle to hold their attention for a full listen. This can often be attributed to the relatively small timbral palette apparently available to pianists. However, nothing could be further from the truth regarding the extraordinary performances of Keith Tippett documented in this beautiful reissue of the seminal album The Unlonely Raindancer (Universe Productions, 1980). Tippett draws a seemingly limitless supply of hitherto unimaginable sounds from ...

6
Album Review

Keith Tippett Octet: Nine Dances Of Patrick O’Gonogon

Read "Nine Dances Of Patrick O’Gonogon" reviewed by Duncan Heining


The Nine Dances of Patrick O'Gonogon is a solid gold delight. I have no idea, who Paddy O'Gonogon is or even if he exists outside the minds of Keith Tippett and Julie Tippett but I'd love to have a drink or eight with him. Seems like he knows how to have a good time. The record was inspired by Tippett's memories of Irish folk music and song, albeit filtered through jazz and improvisation. I had never thought of ...

Multiple Reviews

Dark Companion: tra novità, fascinazione e nostalgia

Read "Dark Companion: tra novità, fascinazione e nostalgia" reviewed by Alberto Bazzurro


Nata nel 2015 e gestita da un team di otto persone riunite attorno a Max Marchini, la piacentina Dark Companion ha dato alle stampe a fine anno i primi quattro CD di una serie che ci si augura lunga, vista la cura e il livello delle produzioni (anche in termini di grafica, confezione, ecc.). Keith Tippett Mujician Solo IV--Live in Piacenza Dark Companion (2015) Valutazione: * * * ½ Il ...

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Performance / Tour

Stan Tracey and Keith Tippett Reunited - 37 Years On

Stan Tracey and Keith Tippett Reunited - 37 Years On

Source: All About Jazz

January 30th sees piano legend Stan Tracey play a major concert at the Barbican, London. The concert will range across Tracey's career, with the London premiere of a major big band piece, Genesis, a sequence of pieces for an Octet with a front line of fine soloists--Guy Barker, Alan Barnes, Mornington Lockett and Mark Nightingale--as well as solo and trio sets.

For many fans, the highlight of the evening will be a very rare performance of Tracey's spectacular piano duet ...

Jay Riley
saxophone, tenor

Photos

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Journal Four

NoBusiness Records
2022

buy

On Italian Roads...

British Progressive Jazz
2022

buy

The Unlonely...

Discus Music
2019

buy

Mujician Solo IV –...

Dark Companion
2016

buy

Nine Dances Of...

Discus Music
2016

buy

Two for Joyce

Long Song
2014

buy

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