“Pianist, composer, bandleader, innovator, catalyst – the internationally acclaimed Keith Tippett is all these things and more” The Wire

“Creative pianist-composer Keith Tippett is a national treasure [and] one of our most innovative but undervalued musicians” Jazzwise

For over thirty years Keith Tippett has been at the forefront of contemporary European jazz and new music – as a pianist, composer, bandleader, band member and musical educator. Tippett’s work ranges from his unique free improvisation as a solo pianist and with duos and small groups such as the quartet Mujician, to compositions for, and performances with, contemporary classical groups (including the Composers’ Ensemble, Kokoro and the Kreutzer and Elysian String Quartets). Keith continues to perform in many ensembles as well as solo and in duo with Julie Tippetts throughout the World.

Keith Tippett left Bristol in 1967 and came to prominence in London in the late 1960s with his Sextet and his astonishing 50-piece ensemble Centipede. He is widely recognised as one of the most distinctive and radical pioneers in contemporary jazz today. From solo performances through a myriad of duos, trios, quartets, sextets and septets to the 21-piece orchestra The Ark and the never-to-be-forgotten Centipede, he has shown a discipline, dedication and creative energy unparalleled in contemporary music in Britain. Performance, composition, recordings, broadcasts, masterclasses, film scores, workshops and children’s education projects – all of these elements constitute Keith Tippett’s work over the past three decades.

Critics have continued to document Tippett’s work throughout his career. From the 1971 comment by Melody Maker about Centipede: “In this one piece he has done more than almost anybody else that comes to mind in breaking down barriers in rock, jazz and classical music”, to the recent comment in the Penguin Guide to Jazz on CD that: “it may turn out to be that the three Mujician (solo) albums made for FMP in the ’80s will be regarded as among the most self-consistent and beautiful piano improvisations of the decade and a significant re-programming of the language of piano”, the scope of his musical genius has been a constant subject of critical appreciation.

Tippett’s associations have been with some of the most substantial names in contemporary jazz. Over the years he has made numerous recordings and concert and festival appearances alongside other major pioneering improvisers from Europe and South Africa. In recent years his work has gained increasing recognition in wider geographical and stylistic contexts. Always in demand in Western Europe, since the late 1980s he has travelled further afield to perform, for example, in Japan, Canada, USA, India, Latvia and Hungary. In 1991, with the other members of the highly successful improvising group Mujician (joined for the project by vocalist Julie Tippetts), he visited Tbilisi, Georgia (still then part of the old Soviet Union), to introduce twelve Georgian musicians to the new world of contemporary jazz. After two weeks study and rehearsals the new band – Mujician and the Georgian Ensemble – played gala concerts to rapturous acclaim in Tbilisi, travelling to Britain to perform and broadcast as the undoubted highlight of the 1991 Bath International Music Festival.

Recognition has come, too, from the world of contemporary ‘classical’ music. Not only has Tippett played a crucial role in opening the Dartington International Summer School to jazz and improvisation but he has composed several pieces for new music groups such as the Composers Ensemble with Mary Wiegold and recorded with the Balanescu String Quartet. His ground-breaking introduction, as founder, musician and artistic director of the Rare Music Club series of concerts in his native Bristol (in which jazz, contemporary ‘classical’ and roots/ethnic music performers share the same bill) has given further emphasis to his position as a leading figure in the contemporary music movement in Great Britain.

In solo performance Keith Tippett’s hallmark is a unique, mesmeric style coupled with a melodic, spiritual power, which transforms the piano into an orchestra of his imagination. As an improviser he bears out the revelation, shared only by a handful of other musicians today, that spontaneous composition, with its fine balance of structure and inspiration, is once again a vital force in contemporary music.