The Piano and Me - Take Four (undedited improvisations)
1. Trio Blues (Westbrook)
    I Got it Bad (Ellington)
    Blues for Terenzi (Westbrook)
2. Lindoro (Rossini/Westbrook)
    Caruso (Dalla)
    Close to you (Bacharach)
3. Sophisticated Lady (Ellington)
    Goodbye Pork Pie Hat (Mingus)
    Curlew Cry (K & M Westbrook)
4  I can't get started (Duke/Gershwin)
    Rooster Rabelais (K & M Westbrook)
    Because (Lennon/McCartney)
    Skylark (Mercer/Carmichael)
5  Mood Indigo (Ellington)
    Good Old Wagon (Smith)
6. Everything Happens to Me (Adair/Dennis)
    Unsigned Panorama (K & M Westbrook)
    Sweet Kentucky Ham (Frishberg)
7.  View from the Drawbridge - for Kate (Westbrook)
     Jackie-ing (Monk)
     My Song Is Love Unknown (Ireland)
8   My Way (Thibaut/Francois/ Revaux)
     Falling in Love Again (Holländer)
9. Lover Man (Davis/Ramirez/Sherman)
    Blood Count (Strayhorn)
10. She Loves You (Lennon/McCartney)
mike westbrook
westbrook records special edition
Track Listing
information
the piano and me - takes one to four - covers
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series editor westbrook records chris topley

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each album is also available individually
take one    take two

take three    take four
the piano and me
takes one to four
The Piano and Me - Take One
1 Introduction
2 F     She Loves You, L'Amoroso e Sincero Lindoro
3 Db   View From The Drawbridge, Jacke-ing, My Song Is Love Unknown, Just a Closer Walk With Thee
4 Eb    Sweet Kentucky Ham, Skylark, My Pale Parasol, Johnny Come Lately
5 E      Rooster Rabelais, You Make Me Feel Brand New, Because, Don't Explain, Nähe des Geliebten
6 Bb    Mood Indigo, Good Old Wagon, IIlusions
7 Ebm Curlew Cry, Round Midnight
8 D      Lover Man, Blood Count
The Piano and Me -Take Two
1 View From The Drawbridge, Just a Closer Walk, My Song Is Love Unknown
2 Isfahan, L'Amoroso e Sincero Lindoro, Caruso, Close To You, Skylark, Curlew Cry
3 Mood Indigo, Good Old Wagon, I Can't Get Started
4 Because, Don't Explain, Rooster Rabelais
5 Johnny Come Lately, Trio Blues
6 My Way, Falling In Love Again, Lover Man, Blood Count
7 Goodbye Pork Pie Hat, As Time Goes By
The Piano and Me - Take Three (The Birds of Dartmoor)
1. Skylark (Hoagy Carmichael/Johnny Mercer/Mike Westbrook)
    Curlew (Mike Westbrook/Kate Westbrook)
    Willow Warbler (Ann Ronell/Mike Westbrook)
2. Buzzard (George Gershwin/Mike Westbrook)
    Koo Koo (Mike Westbrook)
3. A Bird (Mike Westbrook)
   
text: 'Es sitzt ein Vogel' Wilhelm Busch tran. Tommy Bodmer
4. Careless (Mike Westbrook)
   
text: 'Careless Love' traditional
5. Sedge Warbler (Gioacchino Rossini/Mike Westbrook)
   
text: T.A. Coward 'Birds of Britain'
6. Dipper (Mike Westbrook)
7. Rooster (Mike Westbrook/Kate Westbrook)
take one
dartington hall devon
26 June 2022. WR 012
take two
pizza express jazz club london
march 2023. WR 015
take three
the bridge topsham
9 march 2024. WR 016
take four
ashburton arts centre
6 march 2023. WR 017
a sequence of four albums
recorded live by
matthew north
the piano and westbrook
"The music here is not a display of conventional technical wizardry by a jazz piano virtuoso. But it is most definitely a display of wizardry nonetheless. Here Mike Westbrook shows his interest in the invention of new jazz rituals, not the reproduction of the over-venerated jazz of the past.
As a way in - should you want one - you could think of this recording In terms of a pianist reading complex parts. Dense, rich textures as found in Olivier Messiaen; disparate and quirky lines as found in John Cage; micro-managed dynamics of individual notes as found in Pierre Boulez. But of course this music is not written out. Mike is improvising.
For listeners of music from the jazz museum, the listening to be had here is indeed an unorthodox experience.There are no lengthy linear serpentine-flowing-melodic-lines in the right hand with stabbing-chordal-interventions-in-support by the left hand. Instead one has to listen, horizontally, down through the layers and pause briefly before hearing - retrospectively - which note(s) will be developed in a new context and thus provide the forward thrust. And also hearing which notes will turn out to have a supporting role, and which have led the ear playfully up a cul-de-sac.


This is music that requires the listener’s total immersion in a three dimensional sound world - perhaps, more likely, a four dimensional space-time world. I find this recording a total artwork, one that rewards committed listening in a very satisfying manner indeed".

Dr Gary Bayley
extract from Mike Westbrook : Ashburton
full text on Notice Board
Mike Westbrook