Tag-arkiv: big band

Mike Westbrook (1936-2026)

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One of the most creative jazz composers I know of, Mike Westbrook, died recently 90 years old. Westbrook played the piano – and the tuba and euphonium too; but it was as a composer and bandleader that he made the biggest impression on me.

Mike Westbrook’s music is a mixture of jazz, rock and cabaret. His biggest inspiration was Duke Ellington, and there are many parralels between the two – his love for strong dissonances and his interest in theater for example. Like Duke, Westbrook also wrote music with specific players in mind. One of them was Mike’s wife Kate, who was also his closest musical colaborator. From the mid 70s one she was involved nearly all of his project as a singer, lyricist and/or playing the Eb tenor horn, piccolo or bamboo flute. Here is Mike Westbrook describing his own approach to music:

Mike Westbrook was a master of large scale forms, and most of his albums has a story or a theme to them. His music is the slowest evolving i know of, and as a result his albums are often double and tripple LPs or CDs. A good example of his unique sence of form is the album ‘The Serpent Hit’ from 2013, in which the first five songs (or movements) are build around the same structure. In connection with the release of ‘The Serpent Hit’ in 2013, Kate and Mike were interviewed by BBC3 for the programme ‘Jazz on 3’. Here are a few excerpts:

Kate Westbrook: “I wanted it to be about the end of the world, and the way in which mankind/humankind is screwing up the world. But in order for it not to be doomy and self referential, I turned it into a kind of game. It’s also a cabaret idea, so that it has irony, persiflage, and it takes it into another area, so that the seriousness is offset with some rather spiky moments.”

Mike Westbrook: “The thing that’s obviously fascinating for me, is the direction in which the lyrics push the music. Rarely do they fit into the sort of conventional forms of usual songwriting. And also I think what we should, in all the emphasis on Kate as a lyricist, we shound’t forget – as a vocalist; how Kate has risen to this challenge of being able to interpret this music to the extend now, that she can really cope with incredible difficult music.”

When we get to ‘Strike’, the sixth and last movement of ‘The Serpent Hit, the Westbrooks departs from the structure the listener has become familiar with. The end of ‘Trigger’, the 5th movement, is also the end of the world. The bomb has been triggered, and there is noting left but an unstable diminished chord. But little by little the 15 minute movements returns to familiar ground, and the piece ends where it all started. Here is the first movement:

I was fortunate enough to hear Mike and Kate Westbrook live once. It was on April 26 2019 in the Georgenkirche in Halle, Germany. On the repertoire was the entire ‘Granite’ album, their most recent release at the time i believe. The Westbrooks were joined by Roz Harding on saxophone, Jesse Molins and Matthew North on guitars, Billie Bottle on electric bass and Coach York on drums. A unique thing about that performance, was that the spoken parts had been translated into german for the occation. The first part of the concert wasn’t very good, and I remember beeing quite dissapointed doing the intermission. The performance was unfocused, and they even had to stop in the middle of a song. But after the intermission it all came together, and they gave a great performance. I was even lucky enough to have a short conversation with Mike after the concert.

Recommended albums

  • Mike Westbrook: Citadel/Room 315
  • Mike Westbrook Orchestra: The Cortège
  • Kate & Mike Westbrook: London Bridge is Broken Down
  • Mike Westbrook: The Westbrook Blake (Bright as Fire)
  • Mike Wesrbrook: Chanson Irresponsable
  • Kate Westbrook: Granite
  • Westbrook Trio: A Little Westbrook Music
  • Mike Westbrook Orchestra: On Duke’s Birthday
  • Kate & Mike Westbrook: The Serpent Hit

Links to other Mike Westbrook tributes

Kate and Mike Westbrook’s webpage: https://westbrookjazz.co.uk/