CONTEMPORARY jazz pioneer Keith Tippett makes a rare visit to the South Coast to play an intimate date at Bournemouth's Russell-Cotes caf on Thursday September 23.

Since emerging as a band leader at the tail end of the '60s, Keith has consistently pushed the boundaries of new music and jazz, whether fronting the 50-piece ensemble Centipede, the 21-piece Ark, or any number of solo settings, duos, trios, quartets, sextets and septets.

His piano playing is widely held as among the most radical and innovative - not to say beautiful - and his arrangements are frequently bold, setting new standards that others only hope to follow.

After contributing keyboards to three King Crimson albums (In the Wake of Poseidon, Lizard and Islands), Keith got Bournemouth music legend Robert Fripp to produce his 1971 album Septober Energy.

Asked to join King Crimson, Keith declined, preferring to concentrate on his own bands and music.

As well as his performance pieces, Tippett has written film and television scores and music for children's educational projects as well as staging workshop sessions for fellow musicians.

In 1998 he was commissioned to write for Kokoro, the new music group formed out of Bournemouth Sinfonietta.

The piece, And After All It Was, was dedicated to his late mother Kitty and culminated in Keith being installed as artist in residence at the Turner Sims Concert Hall in Southampton.

Last year he recorded the piece for release as an album and returned to his home town of Bristol to teach a series of improvisation workshops at the university.

For solo shows, Keith uses what he calls an "unprepared" piano, with wood blocks, pebbles, chimes and music boxes ready to be used inside the piano as the mood suggests.

He still performs regularly with his wife Julie Tippett (nee Driscoll) and continues to tour internationally.

The gig has been set up by musicians' group Southern New Music Collective, who have been working to bring challenging and inventive music to Bournemouth for the last few years.

The collective were recently presented with a National Lottery Awards For All grant to help further their sterling work.

Tickets for the Keith Tippett concert are just £7 on 01202 451821.