Fine 'n Yellow
An album dedicated to the memory of Margery and John Styles commissioned by the Margery Styles estate featuring Kate Westbrook, Mike Westbrook, Chris Biscoe, Pete Whyman, Steve Berry and Jon Hiseman. Released in March 2009 to mark the first anniversary of Margery's death, initially in a special limited edition for distribution to the Styles'
family and friends,
and all subscribers to the Smith's Academy Informer, of which Margery and John were the founders.
Music Mike Westbrook Lyrics Kate Westbrook
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London Bridge Is Broken Down
London Bridge Is Broken Down was commisioned by 'Le Temps du Jazz' (Festival International de Jazz d'Amiens) and premiered at La Maison de la Culture, Amiens on 26 May 1987. It was performed again on September 22nd at the MUSICA 87 festival in Strasbourg. The album was recorded for Virgin/Venture, produced by Fiachra Trench, at Studio Pathe Marconi EMI, Paris 7th - 10th December 1987 and released in 1988. Digitally remastered and re-released on BGO Records in 2008.
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London Bridge Is Broken Down CD
Off Abbey Road - Mike Westbrook Band
Based on The Beatles’ Abbey Road album. Arranged for 8-piece band featuring vocalists Kate Westbrook andJohn Winfield. Commissioned by Comune di Reggio Emilia for a festival in Reggio Emilia in December 1988 celebrating the music of The Beatles. Recorded live at Willisau Jazz Festival in August 1989. OFF ABBEY ROAD toured widely through the '90's to public and critical acclaim. Revived in October 2008 for the Festival Jazz en Nord, France. OFF ABBEY ROAD is back, by popular request - a unique recreation by contemporary musicians of one of the masterworks of pop music.
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Abbey Road CD
Mike Westbrooks Village Band
Mike Westbrook Village Band brings together a group of South Devon-based musicians to play his compositions and arrangements. Current performances feature 'ENGLISH SOUP or THE BATTLE OF THE CLASSIC TRIFLE', a new composition for voice and brass sextet and the first original piece written for the Village Band, THE WAXEYWORK SHOW. Music by Mike Westbrook and lyrics by Kate Westbrook.
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Waxeywork Show CD
Kate Westbrook / Mike Westbrook Duo
The DUO's current programme draws on a
30-year song writing collaboration. It presents the Westbrooks' original compositions and settings of poetry alongside re-workings of classic songs by Cole Porter, Kurt Weill and Friedrich Hollaender.
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ART WOLF
One of the many collaborations between composer Mike Westbrook and librettist Kate Westbrook, performed in a new
quartet featuring saxophonists Pete Whyman and Chris Biscoe, ART WOLF is inspired by the life and work of the Alpine painter Caspar Wolf (1735-1783) whose very signature was the image of
the wolf.
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Art Wolf CD
| Glad Day - The Westbrook Blake |
GLAD DAY
the choral version
settings of the poetry of William Blake
by
Mike Westbrook |
Many of Mike Westbrook's William Blake settings derive from Adrian Mitchell's TYGER, staged by the National Theatre in 1971. However it is with vocalists Phil Minton and Kate Westbrook that the songs are most associated, through performances with Westbrook ensembles in many countries and on two albums, Bright as Fire (1980) and Glad Day (1997). This fully choral version of Glad Day was premiered in a performance at The Foundling Museum as part of the
2007 London Festival of Contemporary Church Music.
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Chanson Irresponsable - The New Westbrook Orchestra
This 80 minute work takes as its starting point the song of the Sedge- Warbler. With music by Mike Westbrook and texts by Kate Westbrook, the piece is performed by the New Westbrook Orchestra a 15-piece ensemble that combines jazz and classical vocalists and instrumentalists.
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Chanson Irresponsable CD
| CAPE GLOSS - Mathilda's story |
 |
An opera for solo soprano voice and piano
music by Mike Westbrook libretto by Kate Westbrook
Premiered
Peninsula Arts Contemporary Music Festival
University of Plymouth
February 2007
with
Marie Vassiliou (soprano) Brendan Ashe (piano)
commissioned and produced by noc opera
“I stand on the Cape at the end of the world. I am confronted by memories of childhood, of my tattooed lover, the murder of my mother, of my unaccountable father. The sins of the fathers will fall on the next generation. The Furies are approaching.”
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Westbrook Rossini
Re-issue of studio album of Westbrook Rossini. Jazz and Rock variations on themes from the operas of Gioacchino Rossini, including arias form The Barber of Seville, Otello and William Tell. Arranged for a 7-piece brass band.
Art Lange writes:
Keep in mind that this is not a collection of isolated episodes, but a
considerable ensemble work as well, full of relaxed pastoral airs alternating
with moretumultuous melees – a juxtaposition which has found favor in
Westbrook’s writing as far back as ‘60s and ‘70s scores like Marching Song,
Metropolis, and Citadel/Room 315, and as recent as The Westbrook Blake,
The Cortege, and On Duke’s Birthday. Typically, his arrangements set you up
in what appear to be comfortable surroundings, then suddenly alter your
sense of perspective with a swift shift of mood. As a composer and arranger
of the first rank, Westbrook thrives on contrast and diversity; yet even given
that, Westbrook–Rossini’s playful suggestions of Ellington, Anthony Braxton,
and Charlie Chaplin could be considered surrealistic. Still, in the long run, it’s
Rossini, it’s Westbrook, and the twain do meet.
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Westbrook Rossini CD
