Septober Energy - Part One - Septober Energy - Part Two - Septober Energy - Part Three - Septober Energy - Part Four
Centipede was British experimental jazz/progressive rock big band founded in 1970 by young avant-garde pianist Keith Tippett . He was known by participation on few early King Crimson and Blossom Toe's recordings and playing in Keith Tippett Sextet with Elton Dean, Nick Evans and Mark Charig. He started to play on Soft Machine albums this year as well. Centipede was formed by Keith Tippett to perform an extended composition, Septober Energy that he had been working on. The members were drawn from his own band at the time, The Keith Tippett Group, several British progressive rock, jazz-rock and avant-garde jazz groups, including Soft Machine ( Robert Wyatt, Elton Dean, Nick Evans, Mark Charig), Nucleus (Karl Jenkins, Ian Carr, Brian Smith, Jeff Clyne, Roy Babbington, Bryan Spring, John Stanley Marshall) and King Crimson ( Robert Fripp, Peter Sinfield, Ian McDonald,Boz Burrell),vocalist Julie Driscoll and students of the London School of Music ( in total 50 musicians !). Septober Energy consisted of four movements , or "concepts" that the band improvised around. It was first performed by the band live at the Lyceum Theatre in London on 15 November 1970. Later same year Centipede toured France and The Netherlands for few concerts. In April 1971, Neon Records, a British sub-label of RCA, signed up Tippett and Centipede, and Centipede recorded Tippett's composition on a double album, Septober Energy (it were two different cover picture releases). Robert Fripp produced the album and it was released in October 1971 in the United Kingdom only. While some of the other Crimson members featured on Septober Energy, Fripp, who had performed live with Centipede, did not. Centipede, now reduced in size for economic reasons, gave two performances in London to promote the album, one at the Royal Albert Hall in October 1971, and the other at the Rainbow Theatre in December 1971. But the album was not generally well received by critics and as no further engagements were forthcoming, Centipede disbanded at the end of 1971. In 1974 RCA issued Septober Energy in the United States, hoping to cash in on Fripp's name as the producer, but it failed, particularly because Centipede did not exist to promote the album with performances. The band did, however, reform briefly in October 1975, with David Cross from King Crimson