The Squid's Ear Magazine

Tippett, Keith / Julie Tippett

Couple In Spirit: Sound on Sound

Tippett, Keith / Julie Tippett: Couple In Spirit: Sound on Sound (Discus)

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.
 

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Product Information:

Personnel:



Keith Tippett-piano, zither, voice, music boxes, percussion

Julie Tippetts-voice, zither, music boxes, percussion

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UPC: 5051078999821

Label: Discus
Catalog ID: 143CD
Squidco Product Code: 33004

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.
Descriptions, Reviews, &c.

Artist Biographies

"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."

-Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keith_Tippett)
10/27/2025

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.

"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."

-Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julie_Driscoll)
10/27/2025

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.


Track Listing:
Related Categories of Interest:


Improvised Music
Free Improvisation
London & UK Improv & Related Scenes
Electroacoustic Composition
Piano & Keyboards
Percussion & Drums
Unusual Vocal Forms
Duo Recordings
New in Improvised Music

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