Read an extract from Keith Tippett: Mujician - The Wire

Keith Tippett began solo piano exploration during a Holland tour that produced The Unlonely Raindancer. Dates were finalized around Christmas 1978 during England’s coldest winter since 1963. His professional work in 1978 was mainly as pianist for Elton Dean’s bands, with the last gigs on a 14-date Holland tour. Frits Lagerwerff recognized Tippett’s improvisation talent at De Kroeg jazz cafe on 15 April 1978 and persuaded Rob Sötemann to bring him back the next year. Sötemann could fund Tippett only as a solo performer, so Tippett faced the challenge of touring alone. The tour ran from 13 to 22 April 1978, with a gig a day, and Sötemann received special thanks for organizing concerts, recording, and friendship.

"Keith's journey into solo piano exploration began in Holland, on the tour which resulted in The Unlonely Raindancer. The dates were being finalised either side of Christmas 1978, during a winter which was the coldest to hit England since the great freeze of 1963. The natural elements reflected the situation Keith faced in his professional life."

"It was at the De Kroeg jazz cafe on 15 April 1978 that Frits Lagerwerff "realised for the first time how great a talent Keith Tippett is in improvisation". He persuaded his friend Rob Sötemann, an enthusiast who had set up his own Universal Productions label to record European free improvised jazz, to bring Keith back to the Netherlands the following year."

"Though Keith would have preferred to tour with some of his usual band members, finances dictated that Sötemann could only fund Keith as a solo performer. So, as he chopped logs for the fire to heat the cottage at Tortworth, still a necessity in April even though spring had ended the long winter, he would have been contemplating the daunting prospect of his first tour as a solo artist."

"On the The Unlonely Raindancer tour, Keith played a gig a day, starting at the De Kuipershoek club in Middelburg on 13 April and finishing at the Theater t'Hoogt in Utrecht on 22 April. He'd been away from Julie, Inca and Luke on tours before, but always in the company of bandmates."

Read at The Wire Magazine - Adventures In Modern Music