RIP to a musician’s musician, a complete and utter original, and icon of the underground. Beautiful tribute to Keith Tippett courtesy of The Guardian here.
(I’ve written about him –and the act he’s most commonly associated with, King Crimson, many times. I wrote about him and drummer Michael Giles in 2011.)
Who is Keith Tippett and why should you care? Below, I’ll offer an appreciation, an assessment, and audio evidence –the kind you can believe because you can hear it– to suggest he’s an extraordinary artist who should be fondly remembered, properly venerated, and more familiar to many.
Mike Garson’s piano work throughout, and particular at the conclusion of, David Bowie’s “Aladdin Sane” rightly gets credit for being a supremely influential burst of spirited anarchy, balancing finesse and fury on a razor’s edge (and that razor has telltale white powder all over it…).
Intriguingly, a full year earlier, a slice of piano heaven was laid down by a brilliant stylist who was always too obscure for all the wrong reasons. Although he shines throughout this album (and the one that preceded it and the one that followed), if Keith Tippett’s extraordinary playing here on “Prince Rupert Awakes” (from Lizard) wasn’t somewhat overshadowed by the opulence of beautiful sounds it was obliged to accompany (if compete against), it’s possible it would have been celebrated accordingly and more widely recognized. It has discernible elements of straight-up classical music (check the subtle nods to “Für Elise“), but also it comfortably splits the difference between free jazz stylings and avant-garde edginess. In short, masterful.
Listen to the proper studio version followed by the isolated track, which is in all ways a revelation.
And for more classical combined with spirited (and, this being King Crimson, painstakingly crafted) chaos, here’s Tippett again in inimitable form, from the next section of “Lizard.”
For the surreal soundscapes of Crimson’s third album, Tippett was an invaluable addition, but his enduring contribution was in lending a majestic and mellow, almost regal air to some of their more introspective songs. Here, from In the Wake of Poseidon (my full review of this one here), we have Poe’s “Unity of Effect” on offer, with the remarkable interplay between Robert Fripp’s guitar, the flute playing of Mel Collins, and Tippett’s piano combining to conjure the sublime.
This was very much music for music’s sake, and while there’s exoticism and ecstasy in every note, it’s impossible to imagine the heights of elegance and mystery it achieves without Tippett’s cascading accompaniment.
And while this appreciation has focused on Tippett’s work during the late ’60s and early ’70s, he had an unbelievably productive and impressive career (check out his discography here).
But, in the end, it would be difficult to argue that Tippett’s all-world playing on “Cat Food” (a minor tune with a major ‘tude) isn’t his shining moment with Crimson, and allow me to be possibly the first critic to opine that Mike Garson’s glorious and groundbreaking performance on “Aladdin Sane” was more than a little inspired by Mr. Tippett.
A great one has departed this planet, but his influence will linger.
