Bristol Beacon Education Suite named in honour of Keith Tippett

There is occasional public recognition of jazz artists (Ronnie Scott and Stan Tracey OBE and Dame Cleo Lane for example) but no blue plaques to my knowledge – so nothing to last in perpetuity.  Until, that is, the newly refurbished and proudly renamed Bristol Beacon concert halls and education centre decided to honour the memory of the late Keith Tippett.

At a specially convened reception on Saturday 9 November over 40 members of the Tippetts family, with musicians and other friends, were invited to the unveiling of a plaque in the new Education Suite which marked the permanent naming of the Tippett Room.

Sarah Robertson, senior manager at Bristol Beacon, who would have heard Keith Tippett on many occasions including in her previous career at the former Bath International Music Festival where Keith appeared so regularly, spoke of the reasons for the choice that decided the venue to make this honour.

Sarah said that all of the rooms and spaces in the newly refurbished venue had been named after people and organisations who have given financial support to this state of the art new building.

“But”, she added, “with one great exception”.  

The honour of dedicating a space to someone who had contributed not money but a lifetime of work in music had been reserved for one of the finest musicians that Bristol – indeed Britain - had ever produced.  And the appropriate space was in the Education Suite, where, in years to come, generation after generation of young musicians would be encouraged and inspired by his example.

“Bristol Beacon”, Sarah concluded, “is proud to name this education space in memory of Keith Tippett – and in perpetual recognition of the music he gave to Bristol and to the whole world.”

A speech by myself expanded on the breadth and depth of Keith Tippett’s career and influence around the world but also on his lasting impact on music in his native city of Bristol. But the last word was with the citation, which, accompanied by two characteristic photographs (from Jazzwise contributor Tim Dickeson), is inscribed on the plaque which has permanent pride of place on the wall of the Tippett Room. It reads:

‘Keith Tippett – Bristolian born and bred – was a complete musician.  Pianist, composer, improviser, arranger, educator – his rare, unique genius excelled in all these fields of music and his spirit lives on with everyone who worked with him and heard him perform, from solo piano improvisations, in small and large groups and in big bands from his 22 piece Tapestry Orchestra to the legendary 50 piece Centipede.   As a jazz musician Keith was constantly creative, his work an uncompromising mixture of freedom and discipline, unmistakably individual and continually collaborative.  Whilst internationally renowned and admired for a lifetime’s work in performance, composition and recording, his generosity towards young musicians in workshops and as a mentor, in Bristol, in the UK and as far afield as Australia and South Africa, has created a legacy of influence and encouragement that befits the dedication of this room - in his memory and as a permanent inspiration to all those who play music here.’