Coffee-Table Notes

Keith Tippett – pianist, composer, improvisor Born August 25, 1947: died June 14, 2020 Keith Tippett, who has died aged 72, was a musical force of nature, whose free-thinking improvised piano meditations went beyond any perceived notions of jazz to take it somewhere else entirely. Tippett did this over fifty years, leading ensembles of all sizes and playing solo in a series of concerts that pushed his instrument’s limits while retaining a spirited playfulness at its heart. Tippett was one of a generation of British musicians who arrived on the late 1960s London scene when anything seemed possible. While rooted in jazz in its broadest sense, Tippett moved between the prog of King Crimson, with whom he appeared on Top of the Pops, to the 1980s nouveau jazz of Weekend and Working Week. Inbetween, he appeared on an all-star Rock Peter and the Wolf alongside the likes of Stephane Grappelli, Brian Eno and Phil Collins. These were diversions, however, from a singular life-lon

' Stranded at the Drive-In / Branded a Fool / What Will They Say / Monday at School?’ So sobbed poor Danny Zuko, the horny high school himbo played by a be-quiffed and seriously over-age John Travolta in Grease, the smash-hit 1978 big-screen adaptation of Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey’s stage musical. Danny’s wailings came after Olivia Newton John’s goody-two-shoes Sandy walks out on him after wriggling free from his uninvited advances in the open-topped jalopy at the drive-in where they go on their date. “Sandy!”, Danny calls after she frees herself from his clutches in what she damningly calls his ‘sin wagon’ before storming off into the night. “You just can’t walk out of a drive-in …” These are words that those behind plans for the forthcoming Sound & Vision Drive-In event might wish to pay some heed. A collaboration between Glasgow Film Festival and the Electric Frog electronic music festival, this large-scale in-car experience looks set to take place at the Riversi