"Keith Tippett (born Keith Graham Tippetts; 25 August 1947) is a British jazz pianist and composer.

Tippett was born in Southmead, Bristol. The son of an English father who was a policeman and an Irish mother name of Kitty. Keith wrote music dedicated to her after she died. Keith was the oldest of three siblings and had Clive and Thomas as brothers. Tippett went to Greenway Secondary Modern school in Southmead, Bristol. He formed his first band when he was fourteen with school friends, such as Richard Murch, Mike Milton, Terry Pratt and Bob Chard. They were called the KT Trad Lads performing Traditional jazz. Later Keith formed a modern jazz trio in Bristol and played regularly at the Dugout Club in Park Row, Bristol. He studied Piano and Church Organ, was a chorister and played with the school and Bristol youth brass bands. He moved to London in 1967, to pursue a musical life.

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 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 continues to perform with the improvising ensemble Mujician and more recently (2006) Work in Progress.

Tippett has 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."

"Paul Dunmall was born 1953, Welling, Kent; saxophones, clarinets, bagpipes, miscellaneous wind instruments.

As told to Watson (1989), Paul Dunmall was a working class lad from Welling who left school at 15 and spent two years repairing instruments at Bill Lewington's shop in Shaftesbury Avenue, London. He turned professional at 17 and, following two years touring Europe with a progressive rock band (Marsupilami), joined the Divine Light Mission, a spiritual movement led by Guru Maharaj Ji and moved from London to an ashram in America. He told Isham (1997), 'I moved to an ashram full of musicians - a music ashram - but it was still spiritual practice. That gave me a spiritual understanding through meditation, Coltrane's music, and all the rest of it, led me to that, and that's been a fundament in my life ever since - that I can actually sit down and meditate and forget my body. I realise how important meditation is in my life... but I don't do it so much these days.' During the three years he lived in America, Dunmall played with Alice Coltrane (in a big band with the Divine Light Mission) and toured for twelve months with Johnny 'Guitar' Watson.

Back in England, he played with Danny Thompson and John Stevens as well as folk musicians Kevin Dempsey, Martin Jenkins and Polly Bolton and then, in 1979 he became a founder member of Spirit Level (Tim Richards, piano; Paul Anstey, bass; Tony Orrell, drums), staying with the group until 1989. During his time with Spirit Level, Dunmall joined the two-tenor front line group Tenor Tonic with Alan Skidmore (1985), played and broadcast with Dave Alexander and Tony Moore in the DAM trio (1986) and formed the Paul Dunmall Quartet with Alex Maguire, Tony Moore and Steve Noble (1986).

In 1987 Paul Dunmall joined the London Jazz Composers Orchestra, being a constant member and appearing on all their recorded output from that date onward. The following year the improvising collective quartet Mujician was formed by Keith Tippett, Dunmall, Paul Rogers and Tony Levin and has continued to be a regular performing, touring and recording group, sometimes augmented by other musicians. Dunmall has also played in a trio with Keith and Julie Tippetts and in Keith Tippett's big band Tapestry. Two other duos have also sprung out of Mujician: Dunmall with Tony Levin (two CD releases) and Dunmall in folk-influenced outings with Paul Rogers. Another regular playing partner throughout this period and up until the present includes Elton Dean.

In 1995, two trios were formed, the first with Oren Marshall, tuba and Steve Noble, percussion, the second with John Adams, guitar and Mark Sanders, percussion, these sometimes coming together as a quintet. More recently, Dunmall has played in another reeds/guitar/drums trio with Philip Gibbs and Tony Marsh and there appears to be regular crossover between all these players. The Paul Dunmall Octet was founded in 1997."

Dunmall also has released a large number of albums and a box set on the UK FMR label, in various configurations and instrumentation.

"Born in Dundry, Bristol in 1985 James is not only a very active musician, but has just started a four-year scholarship at London's Royal Academy of Music.

Although James's mother is artistic, working in the field of interior design, the only musical heritage in the family appears to come from his great grandfather, a bandsman horn player. Like many children James was introduced to a recorder as his first musical instrument at Chew Stoke primary school. It was not love at first sight, but perhaps it provided a prompt a few years later when a peripatetic music teacher came to the school and those kids who were interested were invited to go and try the collection of musical instruments laid out in one of the classrooms. James eyed up the oboe and the alto sax and went for the latter simply because 'it felt right'.

To start with there were group music lessons at school, and over the term, one by one other kids gradually dropped out, but James was enjoying himself. With his parents' support he took private lessons in piano and sax and as his skills developed, he was offered a scholarship to Exeter Cathedral School. This was a choir school with a good track record of music, and James took advantage of opportunities to play in the School Wind Band and School Orchestra. Honing his skills on classical music, jazz was still a foreign place.

After two years at Exeter, he won another scholarship that would take him back nearer home to Wells Cathedral School, another school with a great reputation for its music. His three years there proved to be a key time of his life. At sixteen he reached the semi-finals of the BBC Young Musician of the Year competition. Saxophonist John Barton was teaching at the school, and until he emigrated to France, John passed on to the young scholars his love of jazz, classical music and composing.

James was playing in the Wells Cathedral Big Band when John left. John's place was fortuitously taken by Andy Tweed (classical and composition) and Karen Street (she of the Fairer Sax). The jazz influence and support continued.

It was about this time that James and his mother went to hear the Courtney Pine band at St George's in Bristol. After the gig, James went backstage to get Courtney's autograph. Some forty-five minutes later, wondering where he had got to, his mother went to look for him and found him deep in conversation with the band in the dressing room.

James took his GCSEs at Wells and then auditioned for Chetham's College in Manchester. There his tutors were Loose Tubes' Steve Berry and musician Les Chisnall, but as much of the learning came from James and five other students taking every opportunity they could to go out and listen to gigs. The concert programme put on by the Royal Northern College of Music was formidable - Wynton Marsalis, Peter King, Courtney Pine ....

James left Chetham's in 2004, and auditioned for the various UK Colleges of Music. Competition was fierce as the Colleges took few sax players each year. His main hope was for a place at the Royal Academy of Music's Jazz Course in London and when he was turned down, James decided not to accept offers from other Colleges, but to take a year out and try again for the Royal Academy later.

James moved back to Bristol and started playing with local bands. As time went on, the list grew longer: Hélélé, CCQ, the Keith Tippett Octet, Edenheight, Ska Daddy, World Government, the Andy Hague Quintet and Big Band, Cazimi, the Mike Willox Quartet, Sheelanagig and Melo Park.

By this time, James's great friend tenor sax player Josh Arcoleo had been accepted at the Royal Academy of Music. It was almost three years since James had tried unsuccessfully for the College, but now Josh persuaded him to think again. James applied. He was the last of 37 sax players to audition. A group from the third year provided a backing band and the applicants were asked to play a range of pieces including two standards and one of their own compositions. This time it went well and James was offered the place.

In late 2007, Dennis Rollin's Badbone & Co band came to Bristol to play at the Colston Hall in support of a 'History of Slavery' event taking place in the city. Hélélé were playing at the after-party and Dennis sat in for most of Hélélé's set. During one number, Dennis said aside to James: 'We are going to do some work together.' They exchanged phone numbers, and James was still surprised when Dennis rang and asked him to come up to London where Badbone was playing a series of dates at Ronnie Scott's club. After the gig, James met the rest of the band and Dennis announced that James would be playing some sessions with them. After rehearsal, James joined the band for gigs at Lincoln's Engine Shed, the Glasgow Jazz Festival, and on his home ground again in Bristol.

Two weeks after the Bristol gig, on the 1st September 2008, James headed for the Royal Academy of Music in London. The course will take four years, but during that time, like most of the other students, James will go on playing gigs. We hope that we will be able to keep a note of James's progress over that period, but in the meanwhile, look out for him if he comes your way, he is worth hearing.

We were not surprised to hear in August 2011 that James won a high quality tenor sax worth £2,000 in a competition staged by Chickenshed Jazz Bar and County Instruments.

The competition was run for students of brass and woodwind instruments to find an emerging jazz talent. They received a large number of entries and they say that the standard and quality of the musicians who entered has been exceptional. After a huge amount of deliberation, the saxophonist from Bristol was chosen as the winner.

Chickenshed Theatre Jazz Bar (www.chickenshed.org.uk) is a thriving North London Jazz venue and County Instruments is a small producer of selected, hand-made woodwind and brass instruments."

"Since graduating from the City of Leeds College of Music with Distinction in Drums and Percussion, Peter Fairclough has performed and/or recorded with Keith Tippett, Paul Dunmall, Ute Lemper, Huw Warren, Peter Whyman, Steve Berry, John Harle, Kenny Davern, Peter King, The Matrix Ensemble, The Bournemouth Sinfonietta, The Mike Westbrook Orchestra and The Theatre Royal Company (York).

He has 5 CDs to his own credit:

IMAGO (Jazzprint JPVP132)CD - with Keith Tippett), Wild Silk (ASC CD8 - with Keith Tippett), Permission (ASC CD18) and Shepherd Wheel (ASC CD1). The most recent release is Momentarily with Hayley Youell, Fred T Baker & Dave Bainbridge.

In 1995 he was awarded the Peter Whittingham Award and he has toured extensively abroad, appearing at many top jazz festivals.

Peter teaches Drum Kit at The Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts and Leeds College of Music."

"Kevin Figes is a distinctive voice both as a player (Saxophones and flute) and composer on the UK jazz scene. Never standing still, his ethos is to strive to produce new music which is challenging, well-crafted and from the soul.

Kevin began studying saxophone with Elton Dean and later attended the Guildhall School of Music and Drama studying with Tim Garland. He composes for his own quartet which has released three CDs: "Circular Motion" (Edition), "Hometime" and "Tables and Chairs" (Pig) which all received much critical acclaim. The Quartet tours the UK regularly, with help from Jazz Services, and has been broadcast several times on Radio 3. He also wrote for the 15 piece big band 'Resonation' which features some of the finest musicians from the west and beyond, a live recording to be released in 2016 on Figes' Pig Records. He has a notable connection with Keith Tippett, performing in his big band "Tapestry" in Portugal and Canada and in his Octet including broadcasts on Radio 3 and a CD release on Ogun. Kevin has also performed with Dave Stapleton and recorded an album for his label (Edition). In 2011 he formed the band "4 Sided Triangle" which included guitarist Mike Outram , and their first CD was realeased on Pig records in July 2012 to excellent reviews and widespread radio play. In 2013 the Quartet undertook a very successful 17 date jazz services tour of the UK to support the release of "Tables and Chairs". Two new recordings, 'Weather Warning' by the quartet and 'Time being' by the Octet were both released on Pig in 2016. On 12th June 2020 the new quartet CD 'Changing Times' will be released."

"Ben Waghorn started playing in local jazz bands in his home town of Bristol at the age of fourteen, before joining London based hard bop drummer Tommy Chase in 1989. Ben was also a member of NYJO between 1991 and 1995, touring and recording a number of albums during this period. Ben has a busy recording career playing for TV, Film and radio, and has recorded or performed with musicians and bands such as Kasabian, Portishead, Goldfrapp, Kasabian, John Matthius, Sonia, Sinita and Luke Goss. Theatre Work in London's West End includes 'West Side Story', 'Fosse' and 'Chicago'.

Ben is an Edition Records artist and is featured heavily with the Dave Stapleton Quartet on the album 'The House always wins', which was released to critical acclaim in 2007. A new album has just been recorded for release in early 2010. Ben's Quartet album is also due for release in the same year.

He has been involved in a range of projects with pianist and composer Keith Tippett, including the ensemble 'Tapestry', a piece written by Keith for two saxophone quartets and the BBC singers, the Quartet 'Work in Progress' and The Keith Tippett Octet. Ben has toured and recorded with latin jazz group 'Sirius B' and been involved in many productions at Bristol's Old Vic Theatre. He is also currently performing with the Dave Stapleton Trio and Duo, Andy Hague Quintet and Big Band, Resonation Big Band, Jim Blomfield's band Septimbre, and Pedalmania with Hammond Organist John Paul Gard -a new album to be released very soon. He has played alongside John Critchenson, John Etheridge, Damon Brown, Andy Sheppard, Gilad Atzmon and Steve Waterman and has played at many Jazz Festivals nationally and Internationally."

"Julie Tippetts (born Julie Driscoll, 8 June 1947) is an English singer and actress, known for her 1960s versions of Bob Dylan and Rick Danko's "This Wheel's on Fire", and Donovan's "Season of the Witch", both with Brian Auger and The Trinity. Along with The Trinity, she was featured prominently in the 1969 television special 33 1/3 Revolutions Per Monkee, singing "I'm a Believer" in a soul style with Micky Dolenz. She and Auger had previously worked in Steampacket, with Long John Baldry and Rod Stewart.

"This Wheel's on Fire" reached number five in the United Kingdom in June 1968. With distortion, the imagery of the title and the group's dress and performance, this version came to represent the psychedelic era in British rock music. Driscoll recorded the song again in the early 1990s with Adrian Edmondson as the theme to the BBC comedy series Absolutely Fabulous, the main characters of which are throwbacks to that era.

Since the 1970s, Driscoll has concentrated on experimental vocal music. She married jazz musician Keith Tippett and collaborated with him and now uses the name Julie Tippetts, adopting the original spelling of her husband's surname. She took in Keith Tippett's big band Centipede and in 1974 sang in Robert Wyatt's Theatre Royal Drury Lane concert. She released a solo album, Sunset Glow in 1975; and was lead vocalist on Carla Bley's album Tropic Appetites and also in John Wolf Brennan's "HeXtet".

Later in the 1970s, she toured with her own band and recorded and performed as one of the vocal quartet Voice, with Maggie Nichols, Phil Minton, and Brian Eley.

In the early 1980s, Julie Tippetts was a guest vocalist on an early single by pop-jazz band Working Week, on the song "Storm of Light", which brought them to the attention of a wider audience."