Centipede (band)

Centipede
Centipede performing at the Lyceum Theatre in London, 15 November 1970.
Background information
Origin	London, England
Genres	Free jazz, jazz fusion, progressive rock
Years active	1970–1971, 1975
Labels	Neon
Associated acts	The Keith Tippett Group, Soft Machine, King Crimson
Past members	See Centipede members

Centipede were an English jazz/progressive rock/big band with more than 50 members, organized and led by the British free jazz pianist Keith Tippett. Formed in 1970, it brought together much of a generation of young British jazz and rock musicians from a number of bands, including Soft Machine, King Crimson, Nucleus and Blossom Toes.

Centipede performed several concerts in England, toured France, and recorded a double-album, Septober Energy (produced by Robert Fripp), before disbanding at the end of 1971. They reformed briefly in 1975 to play at a few French jazz festivals.

Centipede was formed by Keith Tippett in 1970 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), and students of the London School of Music.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.