Mike Westbrook

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Mike Westbrook (2008)

Michael John David "Mike" Westbrook (born March 21, 1936 in High Wycombe , England ) is a British jazz musician (piano, tuba, band leader, compositions, arrangements). His work is to a large extent "responsible for the emancipation of British jazz" from American models ( Ian Carr ).

Live and act

Westbrook, the son of a piano teacher and an amateur drummer, had his first lessons from his mother, but learned the instrument - like later also the trumpet - but largely self-taught . Until 1962 he studied fine arts in Plymouth and London , where he also dealt with jazz, but as a composer and arranger has no formal training. In 1960 he held a jazz workshop at the Plymouth Arts Center with a band that included a. John Surman and Keith Rowe belonged to. In 1962 he moved to London, where he initially worked as an art teacher, where he founded a permanent group of six, which Surman belonged to (appearance at the Montreux Jazz Festival 1968). He also founded the large-format 'Mike Westbrook Concert Band' in 1967, with which he performed his longer compositions and which included musicians such as Harry Beckett , Kenny Wheeler , Alan Skidmore , Mike Osborne , Paul Rutherford , Michael Gibbs , Barre Phillips and Harry Miller . Between 1970 and 1972 he co-directed the multi-media group Cosmic Circus with John Fox (Welfare State Theater Group). With his group 'Solid Gold Cadillac' he played jazz rock between 1971 and 1973 ; there were u. a. Guitarist Chris Spedding and singer Phil Minton involved. In 1973 he founded his 'Brass Band' to perform jazz and vaudeville productions in theater and television. It formed the core of his large cast for special projects. Together with his wife, the singer Kate Westbrook , and the saxophonist Chris Biscoe, he founded a trio; sometimes he also appears as a duo with Kate Westbrook.

He has presented a wide variety of projects since the 1970s - a contemporary version of Rossini's opera Wilhelm Tell with bassoonist Lindsay Cooper as well as a jazz version of the Beatles album Abbey Road . Other projects dealt with the work of William Blake or the tradition of Duke Ellington , such as On Duke's Birthday in 1984 . From a musical point of view, Westbrook made sure that the material was expanded by making popular songs, rock, opera arias and ethnic music the basis for the jazz improvisations in these productions. The project 'The Cortège', which was awarded the Grand Prix du Disque Montreux in 1982, is considered a magnum opus . In 1986 they toured with the Extemporary Dance Theater under the choreography of Emilyn Claid.

Westbrook has traveled all over Europe and overseas with his various projects. He performed some of his works with radio orchestras in Rome , Venice , Stockholm and Copenhagen ; he also created music for television games and documentaries. "Time and again, Westbrook likes to mediate between jazz and classical music, folk music and rock, variety and workshop in a most enjoyable way." (Eric Zwang Ericson)

Lexigraphic entries

Web links

Commons : Mike Westbrook  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Quoted from Kunzler Jazzlexikon
  2. ↑ Quoted from Kampmann Reclam's Jazzlexikon
personal data
SURNAME Westbrook, Mike
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Westbrook, Michael John David
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British jazz musician
DATE OF BIRTH March 21, 1936
PLACE OF BIRTH High Wycombe , England