Jazz Articles

Keith Tippett Octet: From Granite To Wind

by Roger Farbey
October 2, 2011

Rarely does an album receive the plaudit of being considered essential, but for Keith Tippett fans and non-fans alike, From Granite To Wind is such a recording. The pianist departed from the more rock-influenced aspects of his writing, on albums like Dedicated To You But You Weren't Listening (Vertigo, 1971) and the Centipede big band extravaganza Septober Energy (Neon/RCA, 1971), many years ago. He has, in subsequent years, devoted himself to the freer improvisational areas of jazz, although even these ...

Louis Moholo-Moholo / Dudu Pukwana / Johnny Dyani / Frank Wright: Spiritual Knowledge And Grace

by Sid Smith
May 31, 2011

Accidents are part and parcel of any kind of improvised music. Such occurrences can be fickle things with a capacity to make or break a situation. So, when Chris McGregor was prevented from joining the first night of a Dutch tour by The Blue Notes in 1979, Louis Moholo-Moholo, Dudu Pukwana and Johnny Dyani embraced the accidental non-appearance of their pianist colleague and took to the stage. Another accident, though admittedly much happier one, was the presence ...

Keith and Julie Tippett: Live at the Purcell Room

by Sid Smith
November 9, 2010

Recorded at the London Jazz Festival in 2008 and originally broadcast on Radio 3's admirable Jazz on 3 series, Keith and Julie Tippett are in fine form on Live at the Purcell Room. A musical partnership that was always remarkable from the outset, the duo is in a reflective, introspective mood for the bulk of this continuous suite. In the early sections, whilst Julie cautiously enunciates the words of a self-penned poem, embers of slow-burning chords, and ...

Elton Dean's Ninesense: Happy Daze + Oh! For The Edge

by Mark Redlefsen
September 27, 2010

This reissue of two Ninesense recordings, from the late British saxophonist Elton Dean, creates a gateway back to the London jazz scene of the 1970s. Digging into bands that he played with previously outside of his work with Soft Machine, he formed the nine-piece Ninesense with Keith Tippett, along with several other members of that pianist's bands, as well as other players that passed through the ranks of late South African pianist Chris McGregor's band, Brotherhood of Breath, like drummer ...

Mike Osborne Trio: All Night Long

by Sid Smith
April 20, 2008

First issued in 1976 and now making its CD debut with a sumptuous 26 extra minutes, what hits you from the opening moments of this live album is the full-blooded passion and commitment to every single note.

That isn't too much of a surprise, given that Mike Osborne was undoubtedly one of the most formidable sax players to emerge from the fertile grounds of British jazz in the late 1950s and 1960s.

A glance at many of the key groupings ...

Keith Tippett: Viva La Black Live At Ruvo

by Martin Longley
March 18, 2008

Viva La Black, on this occasion, is Keith Tippett (piano), Julie Tippetts (vocals), Louis Moholo-Moholo (drums, now mysteriously doubling-up his name) and the rather large Canto General ensemble, recorded live at the Ruvo Festival in southern Italy. Their repertoire might suggest a 1970s date, but in reality this was only 2004, with a bold mission to recreate arrangements from the golden years of the Dedication Orchestra and Tippett's biggest of big bands, the bloated Centipede. An opening salvo ...

Ovary Lodge: Ovary Lodge

by Martin Longley
March 6, 2008

One of the almost mythical bands of early British free jazz history, Ovary Lodge was led by pianist Keith Tippett, although he would definitely stress that he was a figurehead-organizer rather than authoritarian boss. This is, after all, a collective that's dedicated to the most extreme form of improvising and abstraction, with no prior discussions allowed over the direction of each new piece. At the time, this was something of a departure for Tippett, but over subsequent decades, such hardcore ...

Keith Tippett: Viva La Black Live At Ruvo

by John Eyles
July 12, 2007

Viva La Black Live At Ruvo, recorded in 2004, is a collaboration between the Italian jazz orchestra Canto Generàl and singers from vocal ensemble Faraualla, Keith Tippett, his wife Julie Tippetts and legendary South African drummer Louis Moholo-Moholo. As well as playing piano, Tippett directs and conducts the orchestra; most of the compositions are also his. However, the presence of Moholo-Moholo is key, as much of the music here was originally created with South African exiles Dudu Pukwana, Harry Miller ...

Alan Skidmore / Mike Osbourne / John Surman: SOS

by John Eyles
September 29, 2006

It is wonderful to have this album available for the first time on CD--and scary to realise that it was recorded and released in 1975! It is worth dwelling for a moment on how the (jazz) world has changed in the intervening years. In 1975, the idea of an all-saxophone group was unheard of; the countless legions of saxophone quartets, now two-a-penny, all lay in the future.

It was noteworthy, and commented on by reviewers at the time, that SOS ...

Louis Moholo-Moholo/Stan Tracey: Khumbula (Remember)

by John Eyles
June 13, 2005

There was a ripple of surprise last year when Stan Tracey and Evan Parker's Suspensions and Anticipations was released, on Parker's own Psi label. These eleven free improvisations presented a rarely-seen side of Stan Tracey. True, he had recorded free improvisations with his quartet as early as 1964, but the meeting with Parker took him deeper into improv territory than ever before. In the event, the album was best summed by Parker's own closing comment on the recording, “Amazing!