NEWS FROM THE STICKS
Across the River Teign, turn left at Newton Abbot, and you enter the sprawling conurbation that is Torquay. Cruising through the outskirts you may happen to pass The Farmhouse Tavern, which once a month plays host to Speakeasy Jazz. And if the date happened to be June 3rd you might have heard the unmistakable strains of the Village Band, echoing from within.
The Grand Hotel, Torquay still stands
Little remains of the elegance that once gave Torquay its reputation as ‘Queen of the English Riviera’. True, the Grand Hotel on the seafront, in the band room of which two aspiring trumpet players took their first stumbling steps*, still stands. But the spectacular Spa Ballroom, where thousands danced in the post war years to the likes of Ted Heath (and where at least one fledgling jazzer had his first taste of a big band in the flesh**) was long ago razed to the ground and replaced by a car park. Decades of civic vandalism have eradicated much of the town’s former glory, just as the memory of hipper times has been buried under the tarmac of mediocrity, populist culture and rampant commercialism. Welcome to Torquay! Welcome to modern Britain! - with a few palm trees thrown in for good measure.
Well into the 50s The RAF Association brought cutting edge jazz every weekend to the Town Hall. Crowds of people, in suits and frocks, listened earnestly and drank bottles of pale ale. Building a new, socialist society was the thing, and progressive jazz caught the mood. The rise of consumerism, the trad boom and
rock ’n’ roll soon put paid to all that.
Nowadays there’s not a lot of joy for the jazz fan in Torbay or most other places. However, perhaps because there just has to be a creative alternative to all that packaged fun, the music hangs on in corners. One such corner is Speakeasy Jazz.
In the context of the club’s predominantly modern/mainstream programme, the Village Band, for all its loving references to jazz history, but with its unorthodox line up, seems positively avant-garde. Apart from a handful of hardcore fans, the band didn’t draw much of a crowd. After all, this is new, untried territory. Nevertheless, seasoned troupers that they have become, the five guys and a gal took the stage by storm to deliver a dazzling affirmation of their collective art, including a Waxeywork Show that took no prisoners. Somehow, in that well nigh empty room, music triumphed, and the evening ended pleasantly, the musicians chatting with the promoters over coffee and sandwiches (a nice, hospitable touch that other venues would do well to emulate).
The Carlton Theatre, on the Teignmouth seafront is another of those corners where jazz hangs out, through the efforts of the Friends of Teignmouth Jazz Festival. The Friends have combined with the Village Band to promote a special performance of English Soup - The Battle of the Classic Trifle on July 23rd. A rare chance for the commissioners of the work, The Bollwater Project, from Switzerland, and all you lucky people, to see and hear the complete “be-bop music hall”.
Be there or be square!
flipster
*
The author may here be referring to those ‘60s cult figures Mike Westbrook and Phil Minton.
**
Probably a reference to the aforementioned M.W.
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2009 –SO FAR SO GOOD
With plenty of activity in both live performances and in the studios 2009 is becoming a vintage year for Smith's Academy. Martin King reflects on some recent gigs and recordings.
The Westbrook Blake St Paul's Church, Covent Garden 14th May 2009
Kate Westbrook, Phil Minton (voices), Karen Street (accordion), Billy Thompson (violin), Steve Berry (bass), Mike Westbrook (piano), The Choir of St Pancras Church directed by Christopher Batchelor
St Paul’s Church, Covent Garden
No matter how many times we've heard it, any performance of the Westbrook Blake is a special event, but none more so than this evening when the piece was presented as a memorial to Adrian Mitchell, the man who set the Academy on its Blake trajectory nearly 40 years ago.
At that time critic Kenneth Tynan hailed Tyger as "one of the most dazzling debuts by a playwright that I have read". Like Blake, Adrian believed everything human is holy and urged us to love our lives, minds and bodies and fight against tyranny, oppression and exploitation.
From the concert’s opening bars to the closing speech from Adrian's wife Celia, this was a deeply moving evening and the packed church was fully engaged. Even the church cat Inigo (or was it Jones?) undertook a tour of inspection of the stage during the performance and seemed well satisfied with the proceedings before retiring to a cosy corner under a pew.
The new instrumentation has brought a freshness to this much-loved music, and the range of textures this ensemble conjures up, and the way they link together, is quite remarkable.
Everybody was on top form but special mention must be made to the four-piece St Pancras Church Choir who, under Christopher Batchelor’s direction, combined precision with emotion to great effect, complementing both the instrumentalists and the jazz-rooted singing of Kate and Phil. Also Billy Thompson. There seems to be nothing on the violin that this man can't play, and he's taken to the Blake like a duck to water bringing a distinctive voice to an already strong line-up.
Kate Westbrook, Richard Jackson
and Ixion The Transgressive Gospel Wilton's Music Hall, London 12th June 2009
Wilton’s Music Hall
Wilton's Music Hall, located where the City meets the East End, just a stone's throw from the Tower of London, is the world's oldest surviving music hall. Its crumbling splendour provided the perfect setting for the premiere of Michael Finnissy'sTransgressive Gospel.
The two-hour piece presents the passion of Christ using a variety of texts set to music for this small-scale but colourful ensemble – violin, viola, cello, accordion, cimbalom and piano. The music - which draws on a variety of styles and influences (some - on a first hearing - more recognisable than others) at times shimmered, shone, agonised, underpinned or established tensions with the story being unfolded by the vocalists. Richard conveyed great commitment to his classically based part and communicated the pain and significance of the events.
Kate's part, jazz derived but no less serious, complemented Richard's and she rose to the occasion infusing it both with life and the appropriate degree of gravitas.
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Michael Finnissy
Finnissy has created a bold, evocative, thought provoking and moving work here. It deserves to be heard many more times.
Fine ‘n Yellow CD (available from Westbrook Records) Kate & Mike Westbrook, Chris Biscoe, Pete Whyman, Steve Berry, Jon Hiseman
John and Margery Styles have a special place in the hearts of everyone at Smith's Academy. John founded SAI in 1985 and, after his untimely death in 1989, Margery devotedly carried work spreading the word about all matters Westbrook both as a service to us all and as a living memorial to John.
This album was recorded as the result of a bequest in Margery's will to commission an original piece of Westbrook music. She would be proud of the result.
Kate and Mike have provided detailed notes
( http://tinyurl.com/chldft ) so there's not a lot to add other than to say the bluesy theme that many of the pieces are based has the simplicity and sadness of a Jimmy Yancey tune. It undergoes a number of treatments allowing all the musicians to express themselves. And the final piece What I like exhibits a number of Westbrook trademark characteristics, not least humour.
It pulls out all the stops and, above all, captures Margery's sense of fun and her determination to live life to the full.
a l l s o r t s Kate & Mike Westbrook asc CD 112
This is a collection of Duo pieces recorded between 1991 and 2009. Despite the fact the disc is comprised of several sessions over a long time span there is a coherence that makes it all hang together like a live set. Stylish, idiosyncratic performances that get to the heart of a range of material, strong characterisations, original approaches to harmony and structure, and a thoughtfully structured programme all contribute to a strong album - in effect a 'Best of' collection from Kate and Mike.
The Kurt Weill and Hollander pieces are cornerstones of the Westbrook repertoire and here, stripped down to just voice and piano, the focus is on the songs. These are brought alive by Kate's singing and the musical context supplied by Mike. I particularly enjoyed the London sequence:
London Song from the Blake collection
Limehouse blues - a song that would be at home in Wilton's, and the subject of some further thoughts below.
Wasteground and Weeds - the first song Kate and Mike wrote together
We understand that Kate and Mike have begun to include Gershwin's A foggy day in London town in their live sets, and we look forward to hearing their take on that.
Martin King
Both “Fine ‘n Yellow” and “a l l s o r t s” can be purchased online from Westbrook Records. http://tinyurl.com/n5gmfo
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LIMEHOUSE ALLSORTS Limehouse today
Follow the Thames a couple of miles downstream from Wilton’s Music Hall and you’ll get to Limehouse. The plush Docklands apartments facing the Canal Basin and the towering Canary Wharf skyscrapers reveal little of the area’s colourful past, but we have a song that tells a different story.
It commemorates the home of London’s original Chinatown centred around the docks, renowned for its concentration of immigrants, slum housing and opium dens. Like many songs from that era with ‘Blues’ in the title, it is not actually built on a blues structure but follows a 32-bar song sequence.
Written in 1921 by lyricist Douglas Furber and composer Philip BrahamLimehouse Blues was first performed by Jack Buchananand Gertrude Lawrence in the musical revueA to Z. In 1946 Fred Astaireand Lucille Bremer featured it in the Ziegfeld Follies film (1946). Judy Garlandand Bing Crosby(When You’re Smiling, Parrot CD) continued the Hollywood approach in a 1950 duet. They make Limehouse sound more like a leafy Los Angeles suburb than anywhere we might recognise. The Ink Spots on the other hand indulge in some barbershop harmony and vocal acrobatics. This is a bit livelier but still says little about Limehouse.
A version of the song by Anita O’Day(Mello’day, GNP Crescendo CD) is altogether more menacing, more credible, and more likely to be of interest to Smith’s Academy students. It includes the rarely heard verse before settling into a slow shuffle beat for the first chorus, punctuated with stabbing chords and Ernie Watts’ wailing sax before doubling the tempo for Laurendo Almeida’s guitar solo, a lively chase chorus featuring scat vocals, guitar and sax, before a swaggering return to the original tempo for the final chorus. In short, a great version, though this Limehouse could be somewhere in New York City.
The first instrumental version of the piece was by Jack Hylton in 1922. Over-arranged and lacking in swing this is now little more than a historical curiosity, but it started something. It was Paul Whiteman’s 1924 recording of the tune that made the song a hit. After this, several of the early big bands covered the tune: Joe Haynes in 1933, The Casa Loma Orchestra in 1934, Bert Ambrose Orchestra in 1935. These all have something of interest, but the arrangements – following Whiteman’s precedent – tend to be over-elaborate, with varying degrees of chinoiserie, and the tempos getting cranked up as musicians and their audiences became more familiar with the piece.
An exception to this trend is Duke Ellington’s version from 1931. This ‘ambles along at a relaxed tempo and creates a smoky, mysterious atmosphere with its oriental themes’ according to Michael Laprarie. But don’t take our word for it - you can hear and download it together with some of the other big band versions mentioned above on Michael’s website: http://tinyurl.com/ns83hq
Duke revisited the piece in his 1948 Carnegie Hall concert, this time featuring Tyree Glenn on vibes.
The song’s chord changes became popular with improvising musicians – the list of artists who have recorded it reads like a who’s who of jazz. Traditional and mainstream musicians tend to treat the chords as a vehicle for improvisation, omit the introduction and make few, if any, concessions to the Chinese influence, while the tempos got faster and faster.
One of the more distinctive versions came from Sidney Bechet whose full-toned soprano sax has great drive and purpose. Similarly forceful is Louis Armstrong though, surprisingly, he didn’t get round to recording the tune until a 1960 session with the Dukes of Dixieland. Benny Goodman featured the tune with his small groups – his Trio and Sextet both recorded versions. But one of the most enjoyable versions from this era is Chu Berry’s 1937 recording: a fine example of inter-war small-group jazz with a delightful balance between written and improvised sections.
Django Reinhardt recorded the tune no less than five times between 1935 and 1940. He too, even though he apparently had first-hand experience of the Limehouse area, is less concerned with Limehouse than with the tune’s distinctive chord sequence.
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In Reinhardt’s wake is a whole series of gypsy jazz interpretations of the song. Of these recordings by Bireli Lagrene(Swing ’81,Jazzpoint CD), Frank Vignola(Blues for a Gypsy, Acoustic Disc CD) and Bob Brozman, David Grisman & Mike Auldridge (Tone Poems volume 3, Acoustic Disc CD) are particularly worth seeking out.
Art Tatum’s solo piano take on the tune (1950) uses the tune as a vehicle for his brilliant, florid virtuosity, and Sonny Rollins (1958) it as a launching pad for some of his finest forthright tenor playing. His version, accompanied by bass and drums is a torrent of melodic invention. John Coltrane & Cannonball Adderley (with Wynton Kelly, Paul Chambers and Jimmy Cobb – in other words the Kind of Blue band without Miles) recorded the tune a month before the Davis sessions. This has a very different character from those cool, spacious open ended grooves Miles inspired. For all their modernism in terms of harmony and rhythm this is actually a very traditional approach to the tune. They set a breakneck tempo, provide an introduction, unison theme statement, a series of stunning solos, and eight and four bar exchanges.
Oscar Peterson clearly enjoyed the tune and there are several recordings of him playing it – sometimes at breakneck speed (such as the version on If You Could See Me Now[Pablo CD], sometimes at a more relaxed pace (such as the live take with Milt Jackson on What’s Up, Telarc CD).
Gerald Albright (Live at Birdland West) brings the tune into our times with a slick, high gloss production job that nevertheless has plenty of energy, invention and freshness though not much Chinatown. Or try watching John McLaughlin and the Free Spirits at the 1994 Hamburg Jazz Festival on U-Tube – that’s fast even by McLaughlin’s standards.
But now, the most recent recording in our pile, goes right back to the origins of the piece. Kate & Mike Westbrook(Allsorts, asc CD) plant the song firmly back in its East End home. Kate creates a colourful character. You can see her standing on the corner, hands on hips, declaiming to the world the wayward ways of the Limehouse youth. (She actually reminds me here of my old school dinner lady.) Mike meanwhile, in a spirited piano accompaniment, discovers opportunities in the song’s structure to slip in some whole tone scales. Recorded at Jon Hiseman’s Temple Studio during the Fine ‘n Yellow sessions,
they found some dated words for the verse but no music was available. They took the opportunity to create their own tune, and modified the lyrics for the scene-setting verse. We don’t know if Anita O’Day had access to the sheet music but, to these ears at least, Kate and Mike’s melody is much more effective. With this portrait of early 20th century Limehouse they have earned themselves a unique place in the extensive history of this piece. You must hear this!
Martin King
ART WOLF UNLEASHED
The first performance of Art Wolf in Germany will take place on September 25th at the Kunst Palast in Dusseldorf. The art gallery’s director, Beat Wismer, formerly of the Aargauer Kunst Haus, Aarau, Switzerland, where he originally commissioned the piece in 2003, has invited the Quartet to perform in the Robert Schumann Saal.
The occasion is the opening of an exhibition of the work of the Swiss Alpine painter Caspar Wolf (to whom the piece is dedicated) and the Danish artist Per Kirkeby.
The group will play ‘tasters’ of the music during the gallery opening, leading to the full concert performance. Kate Westbrook, Chris Biscoe and Mike Westbrook will be joined by saxophonist Phil Todd (replacing Pete Whyman, who is unavailable).
WAVENDON UNDONE
Many of our readers will have been disappointed by the cancellation at short notice of the performance of Glad Day at the Dankworths’ country seat, Wavendon, near Milton Keynes. The promoters of Music in the Garden decided to pull the plug when only fifty tickets had been sold, three weeks before the event. Whether their fears were justified or not, we’ll never know. Our experience at Smith’s Academy suggests that people these days don’t book far in advance. Ever the optimists, we tend to believe that ‘The Show Must Go On’.
To the musicians, the Queldryk Choir and all those who were looking forward to a performance of the William Blake piece in the unusual setting of an English country garden, and feel cheated of the promised glass of champagne and scone, we extend our sincere regrets. Maybe next year?
Editor
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OFF AGAIN
The Off Abbey Road re-surfacing continues with dates at Canary Wharf, the 606, Willisau and Cambridge (See Diary below). The Beatles’ Abbey Road album was recorded forty years ago. The Westbrook Band, described by one critic as “a crazed jazz ensemble”, has been re-assembled for its celebrated re-creation of this masterwork of Pop music. All except for Peter Fairclough who has bowed out gracefully, and bequeathed the drum chair to his good friend Richard Newby, who has often guested with the band in the past.
Niklaus Troxler has announced that this will be the last Willisau Jazz festival. For over forty years his annual festival has been one of the great events in the jazz calendar, and we at Smith’s Academy are proud to have contributed to it on many occasions. Off Abbey Road was there in 1989, and twenty years on, we are glad of the chance to celebrate Niklaus’s remarkable achievement for jazz , and to help ensure that the festival goes out with a bang. Thank you Knox! Great Times indeed!
The Dean
KATE MEETS THE DELTA BOYS
An open rehearsal at Kingston University on September 23rd will launch a collaboration between the Westbrooks and the Delta Saxophone Quartet. The new piece, with music by Mike, lyrics by Kate, combines Kate’s voice with the four saxophonists, Martin Robertson, Pete Whyman, Tim Holmes and Chris Caldwell. The plan is to record the piece in the Autumn, and tour next year. Watch this space!
WESTBROOK RECORDS ONLINE Westbrook Records stock a number of Westbrook albums that are difficult to find in record shops. The recently remastered “Westbrook Rossini” and “On Duke’s Birthday” feature, along with the Westbrook Music Theatre releases and of course the previously mentioned
Fine ‘n Yellow and a l l s o r t s . More details about how to buy the CDs opposite (and others) can be found on the Westbrook Records main page: http://tinyurl.com/chh6ad
THE VILLAGE BAND
Mike Brewer, Kate Westbrook, Sam Smith,
Stan Willis, Gary Bayley, Mike Westbrook.
July 23 Teignmouth, Carlton Theatre
“English Soup”
August 1 Ealing Jazz Festival
OFF ABBEY ROAD
John Winfield, Kate Westbrook,
Brian Godding, Andy Grappy,
Richard Newby, Mike Westbrook,
Pete Whyman, Alan Wakeman.
August 16 London, Canary Wharf
August 25 London, 606 Club
August 27 Willisau Festival
October 7 Cambridge Junction 2 Theatre
ART WOLF
Kate Westbrook Chris Biscoe
Phil Todd Mike Westbrook
September 25 Germany, Robert Schumann Saal, Museum Kunst Palast
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Written in 1921 by lyricist Douglas Furber and composer Philip Braham Limehouse Blues was first performed by 
more likely to be of interest to Smith’s Academy students. It includes the rarely heard verse before settling into a slow shuffle beat for the first chorus, punctuated with stabbing chords and Ernie Watts’ wailing sax before doubling the tempo for Laurendo Almeida’s guitar solo, a lively chase chorus featuring scat vocals, guitar and sax, before a swaggering return to the original tempo for the final chorus. In short, a great version, though this Limehouse could be somewhere in New York City.
But now, the most recent recording in our pile, goes right back to the origins of the piece. Kate & Mike Westbrook (Allsorts, asc CD) plant the song firmly back in its East End home. Kate creates a colourful character. You can see her standing on the corner, hands on hips, declaiming to the world the wayward ways of the Limehouse youth. (She actually reminds me here of my old school dinner lady.) Mike meanwhile, in a spirited piano accompaniment, discovers opportunities in the song’s structure to slip in some whole tone scales. Recorded at Jon Hiseman’s Temple Studio during the Fine ‘n Yellow sessions, 
