Centipede -

Centipede was an English avant-garde jazz big-band led by pianist Keith Tippett for the 1971 RCA/Neon double-album Septober Energy, comprised of a title-sake improvisation split across four sides. It was produced by Robert Fripp shortly after Tippet’s involvement with the 1970 King Crimson albums In the Wake of Poseidon and Lizard. The 50+ ensemble featured Tippett’s then-wife, singer Julie Tippetts, and members of Crimson, Nucleus, Delivery, Soft Machine, Brotherhood of Breath, Patto, and the Blossom Toes.

Members: Keith Tippett (piano), Elton Dean (saxophone), Ian McDonald (saxophone), Dudu Pukwana (saxophone), Jan Steele (saxophone), Brian Smith (saxophone), Gary Windo (saxophone), Larry Stabbins (saxophone), Alan Skidmore (saxophone), Karl Jenkins (saxophone), John Williams (saxophone), Dave White (saxophone, clarinet), Ian Carr (trumpet, flugelhorn), Mark Charig (cornet), Mongezi Feza (pocket cornet), Mick Collins (trumpet), Peter Parkes (trumpet), Nick Evans (trombone), Paul Rutherford (trombone), Dave Amis (trombone), Dave Perrotet (trombone), Julie Tippetts (vocals), Mike Patto (vocals), Maggie Nicols (vocals), Zoot Money (vocals), Boz Burrell (vocals), Brian Godding (guitar), Roy Babbington (bass), Jeff Clyne (bass), Harry Miller (bass), Dave Markee (bass), Jill Lyons (bass), Brian Belshaw (bass), Robert Wyatt (drums), John Marshall (drums), Tony Fennell (drums)

Background

Centipede formed in London in 1970 when pianist–composer Keith Tippett assembled 50 musicians to perform an extended work written for friends from different musical fields. The project expanded the circle he established at the Barry Jazz Summer School.

Cornetist Mark Charig and alto saxophonist Elton Dean had played together in Long John Baldry’s Bluesology. Trombonist Nick Evans came through Welsh brass bands and the New Welsh Jazz Orchestra before joining the Graham Collier Sextet. Tippett formed his sextet with Charig, Evans, Dean, bassist Jeff Clyne, and drummer Alan Jackson. Their residency at the 100 Club led to the 1970 album You Are Here… I Am There.

Singer Julie Tippetts worked as Julie Driscoll with Steampacket and Brian Auger and the Trinity before her 1971 solo album, 1969, recorded in the titular year with Tippett’s piano and celeste arrangements.

Centipede also drew drummer Robert Wyatt from Soft Machine. Nucleus supplied trumpeter Ian Carr, reedists Karl Jenkins and Brian Smith, bassists Jeff Clyne and Roy Babbington, and drummer John Marshall. Former King Crimson musician Ian McDonald entered the alto-saxophone section, while future member Boz Burrell joined the vocal section. Guitarist Brian Godding and bassist Brian Belshaw came from Blossom Toes, who worked with Driscoll as BB Blunder.

South African expatriates Mongezi Feza, Dudu Pukwana, and Harry Miller represented the Blue Notes and Brotherhood of Breath circle. Nineteen string players under violinist Wilf Gibson completed the orchestral body.

Centipede premiered Septober Energy at the Lyceum Theatre in London on November 15, 1970, as a benefit for the proposed Jazz Centre. The ensemble toured France later that month and performed at the Alhambra Theatre in Bordeaux. Further dates followed for the Rotterdam Arts Council, the Lanchester Arts Festival, and Bristol University Student Union. They linked with Neon, the British progressive imprint of RCA

Septober Energy

Centipede released their singular album, Septober Energy, in October 1971 on Neon.

Tippett built the suite around large string and brass sections, then divided the remaining cast among reeds, six bassists, and three drummers. He assigned Julie’s text to a five-singer group with Maggie Nicols, Mike Patto, Zoot Money, and Boz Burrell. Robert Wyatt joined John Marshall and Tony Fennell in the drummer section, while Brian Godding took the sole guitar slot. Part Four revisits material from “Green and Orange Night Park,” which the Keith Tippett Group recorded for Dedicated to You, but You Weren’t Listening.

“Septober Energy, Part One” hovers over small metallic taps and sustained tones, then erupts into horn squalls, marching accents and a repeated bowed figure before settling back into its opening drone. “Part Two” strides from bowed-and-plucked bass dialogue into massive unison riffs, yields to serene brass and urgent reeds, then splinters into distorted guitar figures and a free trombone quartet.

“Part Three” intones its liberation text without accompaniment, surges into a three-way percussion dialogue, climbs through massed ensemble figures, then recedes into female improvisation over string harmonics before a disquieting scored passage. “Septober Energy, Part Four” unfurls from rippling piano arpeggios into a broad brass theme, mutates through a long soprano saxophone flight, then restates its liberation chant before a pensive cornet coda.

A1. “Septober Energy – Part One” (21:40)

B1. “Septober Energy – Part Two” (23:35)

C1. “Septober Energy – Part Three” (21:15)

D1. “Septober Energy – Part Four” (18:45)

Centipede recorded Septober Energy across three days in June 1971 at Wessex Studios in London with producer Robert Fripp and engineer Mike Thompson. Tippett played piano and harpsichord on the two 1970 King Crimson albums — dominating “Cat Food” and the “Garden of Worm” part of “The Devil’s Triangle” — but declined an invitation to join the band. Fripp later produced the improvised 1972 Tippett album Blueprint and the 1973 debut by Ovary Lodge.

Dick Whitbread built the foldout package around a cover photograph by Martin Adelman, a former Syn drummer who later contributed photography to the Yes album Close to the Edge. Ken Ley, designer and photographer of the 1971 Mike Westbrook album Metropolis, supplied the centre image. Whitbread later designed the sleeve for the 1975 Julie Tippetts album Sunset Glow and supplied its interior photography.

RCA issued Septober Energy in the United States in September 1974 with alternate packaging. In 2000, BGO issued a two-CD remaster from RCA master tapes. Esoteric released another two-CD remaster in September 2022 with restored artwork and an illustrated booklet essay by Sid Smith.

Final Performances

Centipede trimmed for an October 1971 concert at the Royal Albert Hall and folded after their December appearance at the Rainbow Theatre. Tippett reconvened the ensemble in October 1975 for French jazz-festival performances with violinist David Cross.

Discography: