A new recording, comprising all Mike Westbrook’s settings of the poetry of William Blake. Sung by Phil Minton and Kate Westbrook with the Mike Westbrook Brass Band,- Chris Biscoe, Alan Wakeman, Dave Barry, and Mike Westbrook, plus Peter Whyman and Steve Berry and the 30-piece Senior Girls Choir of Blackheath Conservatoire of Music and the Arts directed by Lucy McAlary.

See also Westbrook Blake

Performed at Greenwich Festival 1996, Salisbury Festival 1997,
Radio 3 Festival, Antwerp 1998, and UK touring in 1999.
Album release: GLAD DAY ENJA Records, June 1999.

A song cycle with lyrics by Helen Simpson, music by Mike Westbrook. Scored for the 19 piece Mike Westbrook Orchestra and the voices of Kate Westbrook and John Winfield. Commissioned by Bath Festival and BBC Radio 3. World premiere Bath, Summer 1995. European Festivals. Contemporary Music Network Tour 1996. Performance with U.M.O. Jazz Orchestra, Helsinki Festival, 1997.

Album release: Bar Utopia on ASC Records 1996, on Enja Records, November 1997.
ENJA RECORDS ENJ 93332.

Composition for voice and jazz orchestra by Mike Westbrook. Text by Kate Westbrook after William Shakespeare. Commissioned by the Vienna Art Orchestra. World premiere Mike Westbrook Music Festival in Catania, Sicily, July 1992.

Included on the album "The Orchestra Of Smith's Academy" 
- ENJA RECORDS ENJ-9358 2.

Composition for jazz orchestra and the voice of Kate Westbrook, based on the small group Westbrook-Rossini plus new material. Commissioned by Norddeutscher Rundfunk for the NDR Big Band. Premiered in Hamburg. Extensive touring in Europe with the Mike Westbrook Orchestra 1991-2.

UK festival premiere at the Royal Albert Hall, London in the 1992 BBC Promenade Concerts. Scandinavian tours with Swedish Tolvan Band 1991-2 and performed with Brisbane Biennial Big Band at Brisbane Biennial 1993 International Music Festival.

See also Westbrook Rossini.

No commercial recording available.

A composition for Voice, Jazz Orchestra and Chamber Orchestra, commissioned by LeTemps du Jazz, Amiens and premiered at the Maison de la Culture, Amiens. May 1987. Music by Mike Westbrook and settings of French. German and English texts, written and arranged by Kate Westbrook, including poems by Rene Arcos. Wilhelm Busch, Andree Chedid, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Bernard Lassahn and Siegfried Sassoon. Sung by Kate Westbrook, with a nine-piece jazz orchestra and classical chamber orchestra. Le Sinfonietta de Picardie, conducted by Alexandre Myrat.

7 LP sides, Double CD, Double cassette - London Bridge is Broken Down - released on Virgin Records’ Venture label June 1988 (now deleted).
Re-released in 2008 by BGO on BGOCD788
More Information and Reviews
London Bridge Is Broken Down CD

Dedicated to the memory of Duke Ellington. Composition by Mike Westbrook for 11-piece Jazz Orchestra. Commissioned by two French festivals: Le Temps du Jazz, Amiens, and Jazz en France, Angouleme. Premiered at the Maison de Ia Culture, Amiens, May 1984. Other festival appearances include Le Mans, Willisau, Florence and Santarcangelo.

Double LP On Duke’s Birthday, recorded live, released on Hat-ART (1985). First released on CD on Hat-ART (1989). (Now Deleted)
Hat-ART CD 6021 Distributed in the UK by Harmonia Mundi. - now deleted.
Reissued in July 2007 on hatOLOGY 635 (more information)

(The Young Person’s Guide To The Jazz Orchestra)
A composition by Mike Westbrook for 17-piece Jazz Orchestra, with spoken introductions by the composer to the various sections of the work, with musical illustrations. Commissioned by Aldeburgh Festival - Snape Maltings Foundation.

Premiered at Snape Maltings, October 1983. BBC Radio 3 Broadcast 1984.

No commercial recording available.

Settings of the poetry of William Blake, with music by Mike Westbrook, texts selected by Adrian Mitchell Much of the material originally commissioned by the National Theatre for the 1971 production of Adrian Mitchell’s Tyger, directed by John Dexter and Michael Blakemore. The Blake settings, sung by Kate Westbrook and Phil Minton, were an integral part of the repertoire of the Mike Westbrook Brass Band from its formation in 1973. The Westbrook Blake (Bright As Fire), a programme entirely devoted to Blake’s poetry, was first performed in 1980 and has been widely performed throughout Britain and Europe, in New York (1983) and at the Adelaide Festival (1984).

See also the updated version of this work - Glad Day.

LP The Westbrook Blake recorded for Original Records (1980).
Released in USA on Europa Records (1981). 
LP & cassette re-released by Impetus (1987) and on CD (1991)

A composition for Voices and 16-piece Jazz Orchestra including settings of poetry, arranged by Kate Westbrook, by Lorca, Rimbaud, Hesse, John Clare and other European poets, sung in the original languages by Kate Westbrook and Phil Minton. Commissioned by Bracknell Jazz Festival, 1979. and subsequently performed at the Edinburgh Festival and many European Festivals, including Camden, Angouleme, Vitrolles, Willisau and Santarcangelo. Selected material performed and recorded for radio with Big Band della RAI, Rome, in 1980, and with Sveriges Radio Jazz Group, Stockholm in 1987. Arts Council Contemporary Music Network Tour 1982.

Triple LP The Cortege recorded for Original Records (1982). Awarded Grand Prix du Disque, Montreux, 1982.
One hour TV documentary for BBC 2 directed by Tony Staveacre (1982).
Re-issued as double CD on Enja Records, 1992. (Deleted)
The Cortege - Enja Records ENJ 9587 2 Reissued 2011.
See our Cortege section for more information.

A piece commissioned by the Bollwater Project with lyrics by Kate Westbrook music by Mike Westbrook performed by Kate Westbrook with The Village Band premiered at the Peninsular Arts Contemporary Music Festival, University of Plymouth February 2008.
More information about The VillageBand

A celebration of the life of the choreographer and dancer Bronislava Nijinska, lyrics by Kate Westbrook, music by Mike Westbrook. Performed by the duo Kate Westbrook (voice), Karen Street (accordion). Album produced by Jon Hiseman, released on Voiceprint 2006.
More information on Kate Westbrook's site
Nijinska Chamber CD

A piece for voice and acoustic brass with lyrics by Kate Westbrook, music by Mike Westbrook. Written for the Mike Westbrook Village Band (West Country based sextet) and first performed in jazz clubs and arts centres in Devon and Cornwall Spring 2006 and a number of performances at the London Jazz Festival in November 2006.
Information about The CD
Information about The Village Band

Commissioned for the re-opening on October 15, 2003, of the Aargauer Kunsthaus, Aarau, Switzerland, extended and re-designed by architects Herzog and de Meuron. Text by Kate Westbrook inspired by the life and work of the painter Caspar Wolf (1735-1783) and music by Mike Westbrook for quartet: Kate Westbrook (voice, tenor horn), Peter Whyman, Chris Biscoe (saxophones) and Mike Westbrook (euphonium, piano).

CD produced by Jon Hiseman, released on altrisuoni in 2005.
More Information
Art Wolf CD

A composition marking the 20th Anniversary of the formation of The Westbrook Trio, inspired by the groups geographical and musical travels. Music by Mike Westbrook and Chris Biscoe, texts by Kate Westbrook. Versions in German, French, Italian and Portuguese. European Touring. U.K. Premiere at Kettle's Yard, Cambridge, November 13 2002.
Album: L'Ascenseur/The Lift CD on Jazzprint.
More information about The Westbrook Trio

Remake of Kate Westbrook's neoteric Music-Hall EVEN/UNEVEN originally premiered May 1994 at London Jazz Festival and Chard Festival of Women in Music. Texts by Kate Westbrook, music by Eleanor Alberga, Barbara Thompson, Lindsay Cooper, Chris Biscoe, James McMillan, Jenni Roditi, Errolyn Wallen and Mike Westbrook. Album recorded by Jon Hiseman with musicians from the worlds of jazz, pop and contemporary classical music.
Cuff Clout CD Released on Voiceprint, February 2004.
More information about Cuff Clout

A jazz-cabaret with story and lyrics by Kate Westbrook and music by Mike Westbrook, performed by a new 5-piece ensemble Westbrook & Company,- Kate Westbrook, John Winfield/voices; Karen Street/accordion & voice; Stanley Adler/cello & voice; Mike Westbrook/piano, tuba & voice. From 2000 Wills Morgan and Chris Allan replace Messrs Winfield and Adler.

Album release on PAO Records (Austria) in January 1999, subsequently Voiceprint (UK) on Jazzprint label 2001, distributed by Discovery Records.

Commissioned by Blackheath Concert Halls, London Arts and Peter Fritz. Premiered at Kettle’s Yard, Cambridge in June 1998. Touring in UK and Europe. Live TV in Poland and Czech Republic, radio in Germany
and Italy.
Platterback CD

A jazz cabaret based on on the Hollywood songs of Friedrich Hollaender devised and performed by the Kate Westbrook/Mike Westbrook Duo. First performed as part of a tribute to Hollaender's music at the Bundeskunsthalle, Bonn, 1996.

Album: Love or Infatuation, released on ASC Records.
ASC Records ASC CD20 - Limited Edition.

A programme of music for voice and piano, performed by the Kate Westbrook/ Mike Westbrook Duo, comprising original songs, settings of European poetry, standards and popular songs.

Album "Stage Set" released on ASC Records, March 1996
ASC CD9

Based on The Beatles’ Abbey Road album. Arranged for 8-piece band featuring vocalists Kate Westbrook and Phil Minton. 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.
Released as CD and cassette Off Abbey Road on Enja/Tiptoe Records in February 1990.
More information about Off Abbey Road

Dance / Music Theatre piece based on the theme of the Greek muses, commissioned by Extemporary Dance Theatre and performed by a company of eight dancers and four musicians - Brian Godding, Peter Whyman. Kate Westbrook and Mike Westbrook - The Dance Band. Lyrics and original concept by Kate Westbrook, choreography by Emilyn Claid, designed by Jacqueline Gunn. Pierides toured thirteen English theatres in over sixty performances in the spring and summer of 1986. LP Pierides released on Westbrook Records (1986). LP & CD re-released on Core/Line (1987).
Re-issued by Jazzprint on CD in Westbrook Music Theatre series May 2002.

Music-Theatre Entertainment, by Kate and Mike Westbrook, commissioned by the D.H. Lawrence Centenary Festival, Nottingham, based on Lawrence’s poem. Set in Taormina, Sicily, it includes a traditional Sicilian song about a donkey ‘Lu Me Sceccu’. Produced by Foco Novo Theatre Company, with a company of six actor-musicians, including Stephen Boxer in the role of D.H. Lawrence. The Ass toured a dozen British theatres and arts centres in the autumn of 1985. It was directed by Roland Rees and designed by Ariane Gastambide, with choreography by Pat Garrett.

BBC Radio 3 recording directed by Derek Drescher.
Issued by Jazzprint on CD in Westbrook Music Theatre series May 2002.

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. William Tell material originally commissioned by the Festival International de Theatre Contemporain, Lausanne (1984). Full Westbrook-Rossini programme premiered at the Andre Previn Music Festival, Queen Elizabeth Hall, London (1985). Extensive European touring, including numerous festival appearances.
Double LP recorded live at Zurich Jazz Festival, released on Hat-ART (1987). Studio version, also recorded in Zurich, released by Hat-ART on CD (1988).

See also Big Band Rossini

Studio CD re-issue July 2008 
Double LP re-issued on CD - Hat ART CD 6152 - now deleted.

A trio formed by Kate Westbrook, Mike Westbrook and Chris Biscoe. A jazz-cabaret of songs, theatre music, poetry and improvisation, including original songs and settings of poetry in various European languages, as well as jazz standards, songs by Brecht-Weill and Cole Porter and material drawn from such Westbrook works as The Cortege and Mama Chicago. Extensive touring and festival appearances in Europe; also in Canada, Australia, Singapore and Hong Kong. LP & Cassette A Little Westbrook Music (Westbrook Records 1983).

Double LP Love For Sale (Hat-Art 1986). (LP now deleted).
Released on CD, November 1990. (CD now deleted).

A music-theatre piece, with music, lyrics and scenario by Kate and Mike Westbrook. Performed by the 6-piece Mike Westbrook Brass Band, with singers Kate Westbrook and Phil Minton. Premiered at the Tricycle Theatre, London, and subsequently toured in Britain and Europe. TV adaptation made for Television Southwest (1983), directed by Derek Fairhead.

Songs from the show are included in the LP album A Little Westbrook Music (1983).
(LP now deleted).

Mama Chicago includes material originally commissioned 1n 1976 by the Crucible Theatre, Sheffield, for a musical about Al Capone, 'Mama Chicago", an English version by Michael Kustow of the original by Roger Planchon. The musical was never staged, but Mike and Kate Westbrook later adapted the piece for The Brass Band. Mama Chicago, a Jazz Cabaret , featuring the voices of Kate Westbrook and Phil Minton, was premiered at the Open Space Theatre, London in 1978. It went on to win the 1978 Edinburgh Festival Fringe Award. There were many subsequent performances in London, followed by extensive touring in Britain and Europe, as well as Australia. There were broadcasts on radio and television in several countries and the double album, produced by Andy Duncan and Tony Visconti was recorded in Hamburg, for Teldec, in 1979.

Double LP Mama Chicago recorded in Hamburg (1978) for Teldec, with UK release on RCA (now deleted). TV version directed by Tony Staveacre (1980) for BBC series ‘A Little Night Music’.
CD Released 2007
DVD Release 2011