KEITH TIPPETT – Blueprint (LP-1972 / RCA – SF 8290)

Label: RCA – SF 8290

Format: Vinyl, LP, Album / Country: UK / Released: 1972

Style: Free Improvisation, Free Jazz, Experimental

Recorded at Studio Command, London, England, 1972. Cutting: RCA

Graphics [Reprographics] – CLE Print

Engineer – Andy Hendrickson

Recorded By – Ray Hendrickson

Lacquer Cut By – Arun Chakraverty

Producer – Robert Fripp

Composed By – Frank Perry, Julie Tippetts, Keith Bailey, Keith Tippett, Roy Babbington

A1 - Song ....................................................................................... 9:05

A2 - Dance ..................................................................................... 5:10

A3 - Glimpse .................................................................................. 4:40

B1 - Blues I .................................................................................... 4:05

B2 - Woodcut ............................................................................... 12:40

B3 - Blues II ................................................................................... 3:15

Line-up / Musicians:

Keith Tippett – piano

Roy Babbington – bass

Julie Tippetts – guitar, vocals , recorder , mandolin

Frank Perry – percussion (tracks: A2, A3, B2)

Keith Bailey – percussion (track: A1)

The sounds are acoustic - no electronics are involved (Robert Fripp)

All music on this album is improvised (Keith Tippett)

Coming straight after the gigantic "Septober Energy" as it did, Blueprint must have come as a bit of a surprise for many of Keith Tippett's fans. The music is minimal - both in scale and sound - but whereas the Centipede recording leaves its impression by its overwhelming force, Blueprint makes it mark with much more subtlety.

At the session, supervised by Robert Fripp, the collective ensemble consists of Keith Tippett (piano) Roy Babbington (bass) Keith Bailey and Frank Perry (percussion) and Julie Tippetts (voice/guitar/mandolin/recorder) but the groups on each track never go above quartet and four of the tracks being trio numbers.

With a few rushes of blood aside (for example on the quartet numbers "Dance" and "Woodcut", much of the album is dominated by quiet, with zen-like bells and percussion drifting into Tippett's piano and Babbington's ethereal bowed bass, while at the beginning of "Blues ll" Julie Tippetts coaxes the mandolin into sounding like a Japanese koto.

As someone who often veers away from anything that even suggests a "jazz" vocalist, I was very much taken by Julie Tippett's abstract use of her voice and the way she blends it with the rest of the instruments, making a much more textural balance between herself and the others.

_ By Alfie Cooke

This is a magical album that takes time and quiet to listen to.

If you find it, buy this album!