CENTIPEDE — Septober Energy (review)

CENTIPEDE — Septober Energy album cover Album · 1971 · Avant-Garde Jazz Buy this album from MMA partners
3.5/5 ·
js
This is an odd short-lived ensemble that mixed free jazz and avant-garde music with early 70s hippie jam freakouts and compositional variety. Although this record features a lot of musicians from jazzy art rock bands like King Crimson and Soft Machine, and occasionally sounds like either of those band's more "out" moments, a lot of this record has more in common with ultra-expressive jazz musicians such as Albert Ayler or Pharoh Sanders. Part one mixes semi-Gregorian vocal drones with free jazz sections. Part two opens with a mellow string and soft percussion drone before heading into a bluesy funk jam that eventually slips into a free jazz jam. Part three is probably the most interesting with a long repeating string part backed with drums that is somewhat similar to some of Crimson's "Lizards", especially when Nick Evans and the other horn players pile up chaotic solos on top of each other. This side ends with some layered vocal improvs similar to Cathy Berbarian's work with Luciano Berio. Part 4 is the least interesting, it mostly contains a very 60s sounding utopian socialist hippie chant that has not aged well. The various soloists add what they can, but the purely instrumental sections on this album are far better than the sections with vocals.

Robert Fripp is the producer on this record and it is interesting to notice how much influence he picked up from working with Keith Tippet. Some of the Crimson cuts that show influence from this record include the quiet opening section on "Larks Tounge", the vocal improvs on "Formentara Lady", the bluesy funk jams that build into free jazz on "Earthbound", and a lot of the improv music on "Lizards" and "Poseidon".

This is a surprisingly good record and different from a lot of the free jazz that was coming out at this time because Tippet broke the improv sections up with unique composed sections that give the record variety in texture and volume. I highly recommend that you get this one on vinyl because the gatefold album cover art is incredible.
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