Keith Tippett was just twenty-one when his group recorded the first of these sets for BBC’s Jazz Workshop on May 21st 1969, three months before the recording of his first album, You Are Here – I Am There. The CD is noteworthy for the inclusion of the three-part “Portishead Suite,” which presents three stylistically different musical portraits of three generations of the Somerset town. The first is comparatively gentle and flowing but the second portrait is more insistent, its 5/4 tempo bringing to mind themes from the first King Crimson album. The third portrait has something of the Caribbean in its playful rhythms. “Hail Conquering Hero” is described by Tippett as ‘a jazz study of war.’ None of the compositions from this set have ever been released before. The second and third sets were recorded for Jazz Workshop in 1970 and contain versions of tracks featured on Tippett’s second album, Dedicated to You… The third set was advertised as Keith Tippett and Heavy Friends and was performed as one uninterrupted 23-minute piece. Audio fidelity while not studio quality is nevertheless very good.
