Keith Tippett -

Keith Tippett (Aug. 25, 1947 — June 14, 2020) was an English free-jazz pianist and bandleader who was active for five decades, starting in the late 1960s. He led the experimental big band Centipede and played on the 1970 King Crimson albums In the Wake of Poseidon and Lizard. During the next two decades, he teamed with numerous players on the international jazz scene, including Soft Machine alumni Elton Dean and Hugh Hopper. He was married to ex-Trinity vocalist Julie Driscoll.

Background

He was born Keith Graham Tippetts, the first of three children of a Bristol policeman and an Irish-born mother, Kitty. As a child, he played piano, church organ, cornet, and tenor horn. At age 14, he assembled with five schoolmates in the KT Trad Lads, a traditional jazz sextet. He then formed a modern jazz trio that gained a residency at the Dugout Club in Park Row, Bristol.

Keith Tippett was born Keith Graham Tippetts on Aug. 25, 1947, in Southmead, Bristol, England. His parents, policeman Patrick Tippetts and Irish-born Kathleen “Kitty” Tippetts, shared their interest in music with Keith and his two younger brothers. Tippett began classical piano lessons at age four and joined the choir at St Thomas the Martyr church at five. He later studied church organ and played cornet and tenor horn in school and Bristol youth brass bands.

Tippett attended Greenway Secondary Modern School in Southmead, where he formed the KT Trad Lads at age fourteen, inspired by the 1961 version of the Soviet patriot theme “Midnight in Moscow” by English trumpeter Kenny Ball. The traditional-jazz band included schoolmates Richard Murch, Mike Milton, Terry Pratt, Bob Chard, and Eric Condell. Soon after, Tippett visited a Bristol record shop where he heard the 1959 Miles Davis evergreen “So What,” which sparked his interest in modern jazz. He formed a trio that played regularly at the Dugout Club on Park Row.

Tippett moved to London in 1967 at age 20 and took a warehouse job while he sought playing opportunities. He rented a room too small for a piano and cut a keyboard outline into a table for practice. Tippett received a Musicians’ Union scholarship to the 1968 Barry Summer School in south Wales, where he met cornetist Marc Charig, trombonist Nick Evans, and alto saxophonist Elton Dean. They formed his core group, which soon secured a residency at the 100 Club on Oxford Street.

On Sept. 17, 1969, the Tippett Group joined Circus at the Marquee Club for a New Paths concert. Trinity manager Giorgio Gomelsky signed Tippett to Marmalade Records. Tippett led Dean, Charig, Evans, bassist Jeff Clyne, and drummer Alan Jackson on the sessions for You Are Here… I Am There.

Discography:

You Are Here… I Am There (1970 • The Keith Tippett Group)
Dedicated to You, But You Weren’t Listening (1971 • The Keith Tippett Group)
Blueprint (1972)
T’N’T (1974 • Keith Tippett & Stan Tracey)
Warm Spirits Cool Spirits (1977 • Keith Tippett, Julie Tippett, Trevor Watts & Colin McKenzie)
Cruel but Fair (1977 • Hopper / Dean / Tippett / Gallivan)
Frames (Music for an Imaginary Film) (1978 • Keith Tippett’s Ark)
No Gossip (1980 • Keith Tippett & Louis Moholo)
The Unlonely Raindancer (1980)
Mujician (1982)
Tern (1982 • Louis Moholo – Larry Stabbins – Keith Tippett)
Mercy Dash (1985 • Hopper / Dean / Tippett / Gallivan)
A Loose Kite in a Gentle Wind Floating With Only My Will for an Anchor (1986 • Keith Tippett Septet)
66 Shades of Lipstick (1990 • Keith Tippett & Andy Sheppard)