Sad to hear that Mike Westbrook, one of the UK’s greatest contemporary composers, has died aged 90.
I suspect that his work will be well known here, though In a better world he would be a household name.
He leaves a remarkable body of music, in a range of formats from big band to solo piano. Hopefully people will leave examples in the comments.
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2026/apr/12/mike-westbrook-obituary
Here’s a bit of solo piano:
Reading the obituary, I was fascinated to discover about how Mike got a commission from Swedish Radio in 1974 to write a suite which would feature John Surman as soloist.
https://www.myonlydesirerecords.com/mike-westbrook-love-and-understanding-citadel-room-315-sweden-74-3/#:~:text=The%20original%20RCA%20recording%20of,of%20Brit%2Djazz%20from%20that%20era.
The two of them came over to Sweden and this live album was recorded at a rather inauspicious venue, Folkets Hus Södertälje, together with The Swedish Radio Jazz Group, a combo which featured some very fine jazz musicians.
It’s fantastic album – now sold out though, I think. My Only Desire put out some quality recordings.
Sad to hear this news. Westbrook was such a key figure in the British jazz boom of the 1960s and 1970s – as a bandleader, composer and musician. I was thinking about a single song that could sum up his work and cannot easily point to one. Without wanting to sound pretentious, I think Westbrook’s music has to be listened to in its entirety (or at least a whole side of an LP) to get the full benefit of a piece. He did try to write shorter, more popular music (with the song Popular Peter, for example, or with the jazz-rock outfit Solid Gold Cadillac) but he wasn’t too successful.
Having said that, the very good Guardian obit describes Westbrook’s “fondness for barrier-testing adventure”. Perhaps my favourite album is Marching Song. This double CD is challenging but well worth the effort of listening. And on Volume Two there is a song called Conflict, which has the only tuba solo I have heard. The track is almost 11 minutes long and the wonderful tuba solo is preceded by 4:30 of cacophonous playing. So, if it all gets too much, just jump to the solo.
Was listening to that earlier this evening. Have moved on to Band of Bands from 2023 (yes, just 3 years ago) – I find What I Like to be particularly uplifting and I commend it to the house:
This is good:
https://jazzinbritain1.bandcamp.com/merch/and-did-those-feet-six-british-jazz-composers-by-duncan-heining
My hardback copy came with a double CD which includes a 27 minute 1980 BBC recording of Santarcangelo by the Mike Westbrook Orchestra. Hopefully the paperback version ( £15.25 at Amazon) does as well.
Very sad news. My girlfriend (now my wife) and I used to follow Mike Westbrook around in the late 60s, seeing various incarnations of his band – full orchestra to 6 piece – playing at The Old Place, Regents Park Poly and various long forgotten dives in Soho. My favourite concert, however, was seeing him play his ‘Earthrise’ suite at the Mermaid Theatre, must have been late 1969. It was the full band with Surman, Osborne, Griffiths and Jackson and it still remains one of my top concert experiences. It also incorporated the famous Melies silent film of the Moon. The whole Manfred Mann group sat in the row behind us – it must have been just before they evolved into Chapter 3. A truly golden age of British jazz.
My personal preference is for the earlier albums – Celebration, Marching Song, Metropolis, Citadel/Room 315 – rather than the later work. This closing piece to Metropolis is absolutely beautiful :
Wow. I envy you seeing all those concerts. Earthrise has become the stuff of legend; it is a shame it was never recorded, but perhaps one had to be there to experience it fully. I too prefer the earlier albums, although there has never been a ‘bad’ recording from Westbrook. Perhaps there will be a rush of unheard material coming out now.
PS. The two Chapter 3 albums are well worth a listen.
Love this piece – first heard it way back in the 70s I guess when I started checking out real jazz after hearing crossover bands like Colosseum
A superb musician.
Saw him, Kate, Phil Minton, band and choir performing “Glad Day” some years ago. Somewhere in London, I forget where. Very memorable.
R.I.P.