The Keith Tippett Group - Dedicated To You, But You Weren’t Listening (1971) [2013, Esoteric, ECLEC2367]

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The Keith Tippett Group - Dedicated To You, But You Weren’t Listening (1971) [2013, Esoteric, ECLEC2367]

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Up there with 'Elastic Rock' by Nucleus and Soft Machine's 'Third', The Keith Tippett Group's excellent 'Dedicated To You But You Weren't Listening' occupies the upper echelons of British jazz-fusion and is rightfully hailed as a classic album by fans and critics alike. No doubt one of many who was inspired by the superlative experimental sounds of American innovators Miles Davis, Tony Williams, Herbie Hanock et al, The Keith Tippett Group produced just two studio albums proper but, in the process, proved to be a breeding ground for many of the top young jazz talents of the time. As well as Tippett, 'Dedicated To You But You Weren't Listening' featured a quartet of soon-to-be Soft Machine-bound members in Robert Wyatt(drums), Marc Charig(cornet), Roy Babbington(bass) and Elton Dean(sax), as well as Nick Evans(trumbone), Jeff Clyne(bass), and Australian drummer Phil Howard who would eventually replace Wyatt in Soft Machine several years down the line. Considering the line-up on show, it's no surprise that this sophomore effort from the group has proved to be so popular. Unlike The Keith Tippett Group's debut, this follow-up is a much more radical affair which embraces the fusion furiosity of 'Bitches Brew'-style Miles Davis and the more progressive rock sounds that were eminating from both Britain and America. This is very much jazz-rock, but not quite fusion, as there is, on this album at least, a clear distinction between the two genre's despite the fact they are mixed so seemlessly. After 'Dedicated To You But You Weren't Listening' The Keith Tippett Group would head their separate ways, with Soft Machine the major benefactors and Tippett throwing himself headlong into the mammoth musical experiment of 'Centipede', another jazz-orientated group with King Crimson's Robert Fripp that would feature over 50 members. As is shown on the two Keith Tippett Group studio albums and the group-leader's later works, the dividing line between jazz and rock and experimentation and innovation can and will always be blurred, combining the rich beauty of the former and the raw energy of the latter into a truely unique and inspiring collage of sounds. Tippett was a true jazz pioneer and this album is a testament to his unnerving talent and his dedication to producing new and interesting sounds outside of the normal 'rock' spectrum.

by stefro, progarchives

Pianist, composer, arranger, and bandleader Keith Tippett's first album, You Are Here…I Am There, was issued in 1969, and received some notice as the work of an ambitious composer looking for a voice. Apparently, by the time he recorded Dedicated to You, But You Weren't Listening, which was released in 1971, he'd found it in spades. Tippett has become one of the great lights of the British free jazz movement, and for more than 30 years he has led groups of improvising musicians, from two to 40 in number, on some of the most exploratory and revelatory harmonic adventures in musical history – whether those in America know it or not. The band here is comprised of 11 pieces, including Elton Dean, Robert Wyatt, Nick Evans, Roy Babbington, Gary Boyle, Neville Whitehead, and others. The commitment to jazz here is total, as Tippett grafts the dynamic sensibilities of George Russell, the textural and chromatic palettes of Gil Evans, and the sheer force of Oliver Nelson onto his own palette. The interplay between soloists and ensembles is dazzling – check "Thoughts for Geoff," with blazing solos by Nick Evans, cornetist Marc Charig, and Tippett himself in a series of angular arpeggios interspersed with chordal elocution. Wyatt's drumming, which opens the record with a bang on "This Is What Happens," is easily the most inspired of his career on record. The nod to Mingus on "Green and Orange Night Park" is more than formal; it's an engagement with some of the same melodic constructs Mingus was working out in New Tijuana Moods. In sum, this is an adventurous kind of jazz that still swings very hard despite its dissonance and regards a written chart as something more than a constraint to creative expression. Brilliant. The CD reissue by Disconforme is fantastic in sound and in package.

by Thom Jurek, allmusic

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The Keith Tippett Group - Dedicated To You, But You Weren’t Listening (1971) [2013, Esoteric, ECLEC2367]

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Keith Tippett Group biography:

The first time progheads (and the rock world in general heard) the name of Keith Tippett and his unique piano was on the KING CRIMSON single of Cat Food in very early 1970, and it created a shock. Obviously most observers could see that the then-unknown (to most anyway) Keith Tippett was obviously an excellent pianist, but his style left many astounded, but also turning away many. But those intrigued enough, probably sought who this weird guy was. A Bristol-born cornet and pianist, who met in 67 in the BS Music School, Elton Dean, Nick Evans and Mark Charig, forming the Keith Tippett Sextet, that played to some success in London's 100 Jazz Club. . Keith Tippett would also be signalled that year on BLOSSOM TOES' two albums as well as being determinant in the SOFT MACHINE's change of musical direction towards jazz-rock, since the group became a septet, using three of Tippett's collaborators.

Indeed, the names of Mark Charig, Lyn Dobson, Harry Miller, Roy Babbington, Elton Dean and Nick Evans should be familiar to many progheads, yet most of them had their "rock world" start with Keith Tippett and his first group. When his first solo album came out, "You Are here… I Am There" on the Phillips label, it was yet another shock as their awesome jazz-rock was at least on par with MILES DAVIS, HERBIE HANCOCK or IAN CARR's NUCLEUS, and further ahead than was Soft Machine. Funnily enough the KTG inversed their Phillips trajectory to Gracious and XXXX by having their second album on the legendary Vertigo Swirl label, while the debut was on the generic label. Titled "Dedicated To You, But You Were Not Listening" (a Soft Machine tribute), the album was certainly not easier on the ears either.

A good part of Keith Tippett's group would find themselves playing the horns on Crimson's Lizard and even on Islands, despite the presence of Mel Collins, who was alone during the tours to fill the horn dept. This wouldn't be the only collab between Fripp and Tippett as the former also produced the only album of the latter's huge group concept of CENTIPEDE. "Septober Energy" is probably one of the most controversial albums ever, with the group consisting of up to 50 musicians including all of Blossom toes, part of Soft Machine and many jazz-rockers present on the British Isles, even including the amazing JULIE DRISCOLL, whom he would soon marry and her taking the name of her husband, but adding an "s": she'd become known as Julie Tippetts since.

~ progarchives

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The Keith Tippett Group - Dedicated To You, But You Weren’t Listening (1971) [2013, Esoteric, ECLEC2367]

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The Keith Tippett Group - Dedicated To You, But You Weren’t Listening (1971) [2013, Esoteric, ECLEC2367]

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