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!

OVARY LODGE – Ovary Lodge (LP-1976 / Ogun – OG 600)

Label: Ogun – OG 600

Format: Vinyl, LP, Album / Country: UK / Released: 1976

Style: Free Improvisation, Free Jazz, Experimental

Live recording at Nettlefold Hall, London SE27, 6 August 1975.

Composed By – Ovary Lodge

Design [Cover] – Liz Walton

Photography By – Franz Nager, Jak Kilby

Lacquer Cut By – DB

Recorded By – Keith Beal

Mixed By, Edited By – Keith Beal, Ovary Lodge

Producer – Keith Beal, Ovary Lodge

Sleeve Notes – Keith Tippett
Matrix / Runout (Runout A, etched): OG 600 A₁-2 D
Matrix / Runout (Runout B, etched): OG 600 B₁-2 B

A1 - Gentle One Says Hello ..................................................................................... 14:00

A2 - Fragment No. 6 ................................................................................................... 8:50

B1 - A Man Carrying A Drop Of Water On A Leaf Through A Thunderstorm ............... 5:10

B2 - Communal Travel .............................................................................................. 17:40

B3 - Coda ................................................................................................................... 1:10

Keith Tippett – piano, harmonium, recorder, voice, maracas

Harry Miller – bass

Julie Tippetts – voice, recorder [sopranino], erhu

Frank Perry – percussion, voice, flute [hsiao], sheng

Album mixed and edited in Hastings by Keith Beal and Ovary Lodge. All music composed by Ovary Lodge.

Note:

All the music on this album is improvised. The sounds are acoustic and no electrics are involved. The music vocabulary of 'Ovary Lodge' has developed out of 'blows' as opposed to rehearsals. In the three years that the group has been in existence there has been no discussion between members as to musical direction. For those of you who are interested in other areas we explore, check out 'Blueprint' RCA SF8290 and 'Ovary Lodge' RCA SF8372.

During playback and mixing the members of the group were unsure at times who was playing what. So, in danger of sounding dogmatic, I suggest to the listener that he or she forgets there are four people on this recording and tries hearing it as an orchestra. K.T.

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 improvisation has become the foundation of his work.

Beginning as a trio, in 1971, with percussionist Frank Perry and bassist Roy Babbington, they released an eponymous titled album in 1973. Ovary Lodge lost Babbington to Soft Machine, and he was replaced by South African exile Harry Miller. This is, confusingly, the band's second self-titled album, recorded in 1975, live at Nettlefield Hall, London. By this time, singer Julie Tippetts was becoming a regular guest, whilst Miller and Perry still remained with Keith.

There's absolutely no compromise with the opening 14 minutes of "Gentle One Says Hello," which certainly makes no attempt at being an easy path inwards to the group's minimalist sonic sphere. It has as much in common with Stockhausen territory as it has with any distant jazz memories, particularly when hearing Julie's high vocal acrobatics. Perry is singing too, up in a similar range. Much is made of drones and lashed cymbals, with the Lodge's chief influence being Far Eastern ritual music (...Buddhism...)

The next piece, "Fragment No. 6," is the one with which most bands would have opened the album, a jazzier pulse ensuing, with Miller's walking figures and Keith's rippling up and down the keyboard's entire spread. Julie's sopranino recorder sounds trillingly Chinese, but later, Perry whips out the real deal, with his sheng mouth organ. "Communal Travel" is another extended rumination, at nearly 18 minutes, and has the strongest Oriental sound, with Perry exploring his full spread of gongs.

It's possible to see how this album is very much of its time, and that some cynics might dismiss it as an aimless hippy happening. Even this reviewer, an avowed admirer of this band, and all music Tippettian, had such thoughts flitting past during some stretches, but the Lodge's high level of musicianship, careful listening abilities and philosophical bent, tend to overcome most of these uncertainties.

_ By Martin Longley

It’s hard to believe there are only four musicians at work here such is the density, richness and diversity of their sound. Ovary Lodge is without doubt a difficult, rigorous and demanding album. It’s also an exciting, dramatic rollercoaster ride in the company of some of the 70s UK jazz scene’s brightest players.

If you find it, buy this album!

FRANK PERRY – Deep Peace (LP-1981 / Quartz Publications – !QUARTZ 007)

Label: Quartz Publications – !QUARTZ 007

Format: Vinyl, LP, Album / Country: UK / Released: 1981

Style: Free Improvisation, Experimental, Minimal

Recorded Sept. 1-3 and Oct. 4-6, 1980 at Ridge Farm Studios, Surrey, England

Artwork [Cover Design] – David Toop

Front Cover Manadala Painting – Frank Perry

Liner Notes – Robert Fripp

Composed By, Liner Notes, Producer – Frank Perry

Photography By [Back Cover] – Jak Kilby

Engineer – Tony Andrews, Tony Spath

Matrix / Runout (Side A): !QUARTZ 007-A.

Matrix / Runout (Side B): !QUARTZ 007-B.

A - Deep Peace Of The Flowing Air To You ........................................... 20:04

B - Deep Peace Of The Son Of Peace To You ...................................... 19:45

FRANK PERRY employs a fascinating array of acoustic instruments:

Bells [400 Year Old Zen Buddhist Densho Bells, Ming Dynasty Chinese Temple Bell, Japanese And Chinese Bell Trees, Tibetan Bells, Indian Bells, Swiss Cowbells, Japanese Resting Bells, Japanese And Chinese Bells], Gong [Various Kyeezees (Burmese Meditation Gongs) None Less Than 50 Years Old, Chinese Buddha Gongs, Chinese Gongs, Paiste Orchestral Tuned Gongs, Paiste Sound-plates And Sound-discs (Tuned And Untuned), Untuned Sound Discs], Singing Bowls [Burmese Chime Bowls], Percussion [Glass Bowls And Glasses, Home-made Petal-discs (Made From The Paiste Sound-disc Material)], Cymbal [Tibetan Invocation Cymbals And Meditation Cymbals]

From Frank Perry's liner notes: "The production of the music on this album involves no electronics whatsoever. Apart from where obvious (i.e. accurately timed gong strikes on Side 1) all the music is completely improvised (as also inspired and spontaneous)".

"Bells and gongs are representative of some of the most spiritual music," says Perry. He is a master of his art form, understanding how each gong produces its fundamental tone, harmonics and sub–tones. He carefully blends to create the specific meditative mood he desires. "Admittedly, percussion is not a field of instrumentation or sound–source most usually associated with meditational music, but I have spent half of my life refining the potential usages and overcoming the initial restrictions imposed by this musical medium of percussion."

It is impossible to do justice to this ‘music for meditation’ through words, for the experience is in the music itself. Suffice it to say, that on hearing ‘Deep Peace’, it is as if the whole world, and not just the human ear, stops to listen and comes alive to its subtle vibrations. The music conveys the experience of another dimension of reality hidden beyond ‘outer’ form, so that the vibrations of its sound resonate with and invoke a response from the natural vibrations that live around us – the music of the spheres. In the LP’s accompanying booklet, Frank Perry states that “…the Sun and Moon principles, which form the basis of this work, are each dependent one upon the other in their inseparability; being here representative of the Eucharistic Christian Sacraments.”

The cover of the record depicts a beautiful mandala by Frank, representing the planet Jupiter and the title is taken from an old Gaelic prayer: “Deep peace of the running wave to you. Deep peace of the flowing air to you. Deep peace of the quiet earth to you. Deep peace of the shining stars to you. Deep peace of the Son of Peace to you.”

Few artists are as spiritually sincere and philosophically dedicated as Frank Perry. "For the maintenance of well–being, each one of us is in need of a constant attunement or alignment with that deep peace at the center of all life. This music is designed to provide a means, a bridge, towards this condition."

Perry has been perfecting his musical skills as he has been perfecting his spiritual skills for the past several decades. In fact, the two aspects are fused in his life. He is a student of numerology and cosmology, and an ardent reader of varied theological and philosophical works. The knowledge he gains from these studies, he incorporates into his pieces to share with others. "This music centers one's energy through concentration within sound, thus forming a bridge between past and future, or between the visible and invisible realms of Life."

And this masterpiece? ..... This is something only for my tortured soul :)

If you find it, buy this album!