Artist: Kevin Figes & Julie Tippetts
Title: Happy Apples
Cat Number: SLAMCD2117
Label, Release Date: SLAM Productions, 29th November 2024
Format: CD & all digital platforms
Barcode: 5052442026327
‘Happy Apples’ presents a collection of improvised duo exchanges between legendary free jazz vocalist Julie Tippetts, whose spell-binding vocals intermingle perfectly with saxophonist Kevin Figes’ atmospheric playing.
Both musicians supplement the recording with an array of percussive devices, including the quirky tinkling 1970s toy that lends the album its name. The epic opening track “The Third Harmony” sets the mood for the recording as Tippetts displays a dazzling array of vocal techniques throughout, with Figes switching to flute and percussion accompaniment. Other tracks involve strange sounds – a crackling transistor radio, squeaking plastic chicken and toy duck that complement the traditional instruments and Julie’s voice, which is the most powerful and striking of them all.
Julie Tippetts is undoubtedly one of the most inventive and exploratory vocalists working in improvised music. As Julie Driscoll, she helped define the 1960s performing psychedelic soul with Brian Auger. Since the 1970s, she has focused on experimental and improvised music. She performed with various groups led by Keith Tippett (whom she married) and also performed with the Spontaneous Music Ensemble, Robert Wyatt, Carla Bley, Maggie Nichols, Phil Minton and Martin Archer.
Kevin Figes studied with Elton Dean and Tim Garland. In the early 1990s, he moved to Bristol and began a long and fruitful association with Keith Tippett. A supremely versatile musician, he has played everything from funk, Brazilian music, jazz-rock and avant-garde music.
‘Happy Apples’ is available on a limited edition 4-panel digipak CD with sleeve notes by Daniel Spicer (The Wire / Jazzwise).
Kevin Figes: soprano and alto saxophones, flute, bass flute, piano, transistor radios, chicken
Julie Tippetts: voice, zither, Happy Apples, ducks, percussion
All tracks composed by Kevin Figes & Julie Tippetts
Recorded 22nd February 2023
Recorded, mixed and mastered by Jim Barr at J & J Studio, Bristol