Planning a duo album since 2019, this was to be pianist Keith Tippett & vocalist Julie Tippett first new studio album in 30 years, but tragically pandemic and Keith Tippett's passing prevented that, Julie instead turning to unreleased live solo piano recordings from 1979 through 1996 to which she added new vocal performances in the studio, creating eight impressive virtual duos.
Format: CD Condition: New Released: 2023 Country: UK Packaging: Cardboard Gatefold 3 Panels w/ booklet Piano tracks 2, 3, 4 and 8, recorded live in various venues in The Netherlands, in April, 1979, by Rob Sotemann. Piano tracks 1 and 5 recorded at the welsh College of Music and Drama, in 1995 or 1996, by Marcin Wright.
Paino tracks 6 and 7 recorded at Ketty do Club, Bologna, Italy, on January 26th, 1991 by Alessandro Achille.
Julie Tippett's tracks recorded at Discus Music Studio, in Sheffield, England, UK, in June, 2022, by Martin Archer, and at Playpen studio, in Bistol, UK, in October, 2022, by Patrick Phillips.
Personnel:
Keith Tippett-piano, zither, voice, music boxes, percussion
"During 2019 Keith, Julie and myself had discussed the idea of a new Couple In Spirit album for Discus Music. Rather than choosing one of the many possible live recordings of the duo, Keith and Julie were keen to make a new multi tracked studio recording, something they had not done for 30 years. The studio was booked for Spring 2020, and the project was opened for advance subscribers (whose generous contributions were quickly gathered, and who are listed elsewhere in these notes). The New Year arrived, lockdown kicked in, Keith's already fragile health deteriorated, and tragically we lost Keith in the Summer of that year. Our plan unravelled.
Julie and I spent the next period concentrating on the issue of Keith's choral work The Monk Watches The Eagle, a project which had been very dear to Keith's heart, but during this time Julie conceived the idea that the planned Couple In Spirit recording could be completed in a different way. Several unissued live recordings of Keith's solo concerts were available to us, and Julie's plan was to use these as a basis for her own multi tracked music for voices and percussion.
Time passed, Covid issues still prevented us from quickly completing our already overdue JTMA Ensemble album Illusion, and it was not until 2022 that we were able to pick up the threads of Couple In Spirit with anything like clear heads. While the studio work itself was technically much simpler than the massive JTMA project we had just completed, Julie had to dig deep into her every reserve of strength and determination in order to make these recordings. We hope and believe that we have done justice to the music. Our heartfelt thanks go to our friends who made the recordings of Keith's music available to us."-Martin Archer, November 2022