Tickets: £12(10); £10(8); £6(3) Jazz Card discounts apply

Keith Tippett’s Piano Quintet Linuckea — Bristol premiere and official CD launch

Keith Tippett piano David Le Page violin Chris George violin Malcolm Allison viola Philip Sheppard cello

If boundaries are ignored with ease today, Keith Tippett has been impossible to pigeonhole from the moment he burst on to the scene in the late ‘60s. Since then, nothing has gone according to any rulebook. In his 20s, a composition for a 50-piece orchestra drawn from the jazz, rock and classical fields [Centipede] even surfaced at the Royal Albert Hall.

Tippett turns piano solos into magic eruptions of melody and ethereal sound effects. Classical groups scramble to commission him, while he also arranges old Blue Notes numbers for the Dedication Orchestra. The remarkable Mujician, the long-standing quartet with Paul Dunmall, Paul Rogers and Tony Levin, he describes as ‘an avant-garde jazz group’. A similar distinction between jazz and European music is drawn when he enthuses over Tapestry, his latest large [unrecorded] ensemble. The classical side is currently uppermost in his life, with the CD and forthcoming tour of his piano quintet Linuckea (FMR Records, 2000) on the same bill as Mujician–Ron Atkins, Jazz UK (January/February 2001)

In the early part of 1995 The Kreutzer String Quartet commissioned me to write a piano quintet. The premiere being in Nottingham in October that year. Subsequent performances include the 1996 Bath Festival, the 1996 Dartington International Summer School, Banlieues Bleues Festival in Paris 1997 and the 1999 Groningen Bicycle Festival in Holland. At last in the year 2000 we have been able to commit this music to CD. Three of the original quartet are on this recording, although no longer with the Kreutzer Quartet.

The piece is about 95% notated and directed. As a jazz/improvising musician I have built within the architecture a section for collective improviation (Spontaneous Composition). The listeners can decide where they think that might be! With this compositional approach it enables the musician to be a creator as well as a curator, and what incredible musicians these string players are. Along with maestro Daryl Runswick (whose ears were indispensable in the studio), I thank them from the very bottom of my heart–Keith Tippett, Linuckea CD liner notes

Linuckea marks another significant point in the eventful career of one of this country’s most exceptional pianist-composers … . It stands as an important point in the music’s history for what Tippett is creating here is surely a ‘future chamber music’ and something that cries out to be performed, live, created ‘in the moment’. The beautiful ‘new music’ on this CD also clearly signposts the next logical step, for someone to make it possible for Tippett to take these ideas further, to create a work for a full symphony orchestra. In recognition of Tippett’s contribution to extending the boundaries of what has come to be called the ‘new music’, Linuckea, surely deserves some kind of acknowledgement by the heavily funded classical music establishment. A place as part of this year’s Prom season would be a good start, don’t you think? Taverner followed by Tippett sounds a natural to me–Chrissie Murray, Jazzwise (February 2001)

This isn’t crossover - it’s an intriguing melding of two different idioms!–Michael Church

Paul Bevan trumpet, recorder, psaltery, percussion Giles Lewin vielle, rebec, shawm, bagpipes William Lyons flutes, bagpipes, shawm, simfony Peter Skuce harp, percussion Vivien Ellis voice

The Dufay Collective has been acclaimed worldwide for their ensemble whose virtuosity is matched by their versatility. Their programme here will focus on medival Spanish and 14^th-century Italian dance music and will reflect the wide diversity of medieval musical life in all its moods using an array of medieval instruments and voice.

The intoxicatingly frenetic quality of their music, particularly on A L’Estampida (Continuum), is in part due to the group’s concern with reinterpreting European medieval music to show near Eastern influences. Given that many medieval instruments (such as the lute, rebec and shawm) originated in the Moslem world and were brought to Europe during the Crusades, this line of reasoning seems plausible.

The Early Music fraternity is, however, divided on the question of these exotic influences, as well as on the subject of ‘fine art’ versus more ‘folkic’ treatments. While many Early Music practitioners maintain a rigidly conventional approach to concert performance, the Dufay Collective’s style is both more relaxed and more dramatic–quote from the Dufay’s website

Captures something of the medieval spirit in which cultural richness and barbarity were such close bed companions–RIK

Their playing was astonishingly inventive … here was a medieval ‘jam’ session as brilliantly sophisticated as anything you’re likely to hear at Ronnie Scott’s–The Independent

We’re not going to deny it, we think they’re one of the most interesting early music groups around … High energy, and highly enjoyable–Hogshead online reviews

9.45 — 10.30 Julie Tippetts voice Keith Tippett piano Paul Dunmall saxes, clarinet, pipes

A rare opportunity to hear these three top improvising artists together, and one of their first performances in Bristol since their stunning concert with Mujician and the Georgian Ensemble a decade ago.

Bristol-born Keith Tippett has been a key figure of the British avant-garde for more than 30 years. He played bebop and traditional jazz before attempting a more experimental course with his own groups Ovary Lodge, Ark and the huge Centipede; more recently he has been a key member of the improvising group, Mujician. He also worked with Amalgam, Ninesense and other leader’s groups, but gradually his distinctive approach came to be focused on solo performance, using spontaneous ‘preparations’ to turn his piano into a whole orchestra of effects. Some of his work has veered towards classical composition, but his basic language is undetermined by and organizing principle except his unfailing sense of beauty–The Penguin Guide to Jazz on CD (5^th ed., 2000)

Julie Tippetts is one of the foremost European vocalists in the field of contemporary jazz and improvised music. Her recording and performing career has taken her from the early years of soul/jazz/R&B with Brian Auger in the 1960s to working with some of the world’s leading improvisers today. Her extended use of the voice as an instrument has led her to develop a vocal technique beyond the boundaries of a conventional singer.

Most recently she successfully toured with The Songs of Robert Wyatt and last year made a rare and short UK tour in her longstanding duo partnership with husband Keith. Her latest solo project Shadow Puppeteer (Voiceprint, 1999) is a suite of compositions and improvisations in which her voice and various instruments are multi-tracked to showcase the full extent of her powers of expression and imagination.

She hits notes other people don’t even hear. She’s a tough cookie with good ears and an amazing technical range. She hits those high notes on the button and they stay hit–Robert Wyatt

Paul Dunmall has explored bebop, free jazz, folk forms and large-scale composition. He is a founder member of improvising ensemble Mujician, the original RMC ‘house band’, and works with Mujician bassist Paul Rogers in a band called Folks, exploring an abstract form of folk-like music. To the revelation of many he starred as the soloing powerhouse in the Brian Irvine Ensemble, the triumphant finale of last year’s Bath Festival Jazz Weekend. Never one to stand still, his recording career has started to look quite healthy with a string of well-reviewed titles appearing in the newest edition of the Penguin Guide to Jazz on CD. Together this tireless trio of

Queen’s Road, Clifton — Box Office 0117 954 5032

£10 (£6 UB40, MU, OAP, Students — strictly upon presentation of necessary ID)

Under 15s free

7.30 — 8.15 Philip Sheppard cello

Playing a custom-built five-string electric cello, Phillip Sheppard creates beguiling music whether performing his own compositions or that of composers like Jonathan Harvey.

8.20 — 9.05 Sivasakti Sivanesan voice, veena Balu Radghuraman karnatic violin M. Balachandar mridangam

In a special weekend of Indian music the RMC is proud to present traditional and devotional music from different regions. Tonight we have the Karnatic systems of southern India. Both groups feature women singers with stringed instruments and percussion and both systems follow very strict and disciplined structures with well-defined improvisatory elements. What’s the difference … well, come and hear!

9.35 — 10.30 Simon Picard tenor sax John Edwards double bass Tony Marsh drums

Three of Europe’s top improvising musicians in a rare visit out west. Simon Picard is far less well-known than he deserves to be, far too often seen as a featured soloist in big bands like the London Jazz Composers’ Orchestra. He’s well up to the task of leader though, and he’s very well-served by the equally underexposed talents of John Edwards and Tony Marsh.

£10 (£6 UB40, MU, OAP, Students — strictly upon presentation of necessary ID)

Under 15s free

Nina Burmi voice Ustad Fida Hussain harmonium Sukhdip Dhanjal tabla Raju Virdee tanpura

Following on from last night the music moves to the north of India with a display of classical and devotional styles that include Khayal, Thumri, Dadra and Bhajan.

8.20 — 9.05 Andrew Ball piano

A passionate advocate of new composition for many years Andrew Ball is an inspirational performer and an RMC favourite who makes playing and listening to new music an effortless experience. He has premiered the works of composers such as Alfred Schnittke, Frederic Rzewski, Sofia Gubaidulina and Benedict Mason.

9.35 — 10.30 Paul Dunmall saxes, clarinet, pipes John Edwards double bass Keith Tippett piano

Paul Dunmall is finally getting some of the recognition he richly deserves aided by a series of acclaimed CDs plus his performances with his Octet, Mujician and most recently the Brian Irvine Ensemble. Somewhat surprisingly perhaps, this is a debut performance by this trio. Expect the unexpected.

4 King Square, Kingsdown — Box Office 0117 907 4190

£10 (£6 UB40, MU, OAP, Students — strictly upon presentation of necessary ID)

Includes Cube membership

1.00 — 1.45 Susanne Stanzeleit violin

Widely known for her unusually challenging and extensive repertoire, this sought-after violinist has attracted rave reviews for her recordings of Bartok, Dvorak and a series of English sonatas. Compositions by Gerald Barry, Robin Holloway and Bela Bartok will be included in this performance.

2.00 — 3.00 David Bedford Music for Film - A Composer’s View (audio-visual talk)

David Bedford’s long career has seen him work as keyboardist, composer and arranger with musicians as diverse as Kevin Ayers, Mike Oldfield, Lol Coxhill, Elvis Costello and Billy Bragg. In addition to a long career as an avant-garde composer, his film work has included orchestrations for The Killing Fields, Absolute Beginners and Orlando. Now Bristol-based this is still a rare chance to hear him speak.

3.20 — 5.00 Film: Secrets of a Soul (Geheimnisse einer Seele) 1926

Directed by Georg W. Pabst, with Werner Krauss, Pawel Pawloff, Renate Brausevetter

With live improvisation by Maggie Nicols and Julie Tippetts voices — World premiere

Possibly the first film to depict dreams and Freudian psychoanalysis this rare screening of the silent film by the director of Pandora’s Box is an expressionist masterpiece full of distorting lenses, superimpositions and special effects. A professor is driven into a state of terror by a dream in which he attempts to stab his wife. Accompanied by the extraordinary vocals of improvising soulmates Maggie Nicols and Julie Tippetts this is sure to be a fantastic finale to the RMC’s Way Out West weekend.

Please note the Cube only holds just over 100 people so book early to avoid disappointment! At 8pm the Cube will be showing the Coen Brothers’ latest surreal and comic film offering, O Brother, Where Art Thou (12) featuring some excellent oldtime music. This is not strictly an RMC event but the Cube are knocking £1 off the admission charge of £4 to anyone on presentation of any Way Out West concert ticket. An excellent way to wind down the festival.

Bristol Tourism Bureau (maps, accommodation, etc.): 0117 946 2200

National Rail Enquiries (Bristol Temple Meads, 20 to 30 minutes walk to all venues: 0345 484950

National Express (coaches to and from Marlborough Street Bus Station, 5 to15 minutes walk from all venues): 0870 580 80 80

For further information regarding these and future RMC concerts please contact

Email [email protected] Web www.raremusic.org.uk Tel 01643 862272 Fax 01643 862393

RMC is grateful for the financial support of the Performing Right Society Foundation.