Reviews that mention Mike Westbrook
August 8, 2009
Music Outside, Contemporary Jazz in Britain
By Ian Carr
Northway Publications
Hindsight may be 20/20, but this reprint of Ian Carr’s 1973 classic Music Outside, reveals that he beats the law of averages. However, anything written 36 years ago resonates with the attitudes of the time. Some musicians who seemed significant then are more the province of nostalgia than admiration; others mentioned briefly are major figures.
Parenthetically that sense of being of one’s time makes Roger Cotterell’s contemporary postscript frustrating. While he does tie up loose ends and outlines the subsequent career of some musicians, a few are still ignored. His updates are also mostly personal anecdotes. MORE
December 3, 2008
Westbrook-Rossini
hatOLOGY 661
Uri Caine
The Othello Syndrome
Winter & Winter W&W 910 135-2
Reinhold Friedl/Ensemble Zeitkratzer
Schönberg Pierrot Lunaire Cheap Imitation
Zeitkratzer Records ZKR 001
Speed/Cheek/Furic Leibovici
Jugendstil
ESP-Disk ESP 4048
Notated Music and Improvisation: Extended Play
So-called classic music and jazz have had an uneasy relationship since the beginning of the last century. Notated musicians yearned for jazz’s rhythmic and improvisational freedom, while jazzers coveted orchestral colors and financial support. MORE
December 3, 2008
The Othello Syndrome
Winter & Winter W&W 910 135-2
Mike Westbrook
Westbrook-Rossini
hatOLOGY 661
Reinhold Friedl/Ensemble Zeitkratzer
Schönberg Pierrot Lunaire Cheap Imitation
Zeitkratzer Records ZKR 001
Speed/Cheek/Furic Leibovici
Jugendstil
ESP-Disk ESP 4048
Notated Music and Improvisation: Extended Play
So-called classic music and jazz have had an uneasy relationship since the beginning of the last century. Notated musicians yearned for jazz’s rhythmic and improvisational freedom, while jazzers coveted orchestral colors and financial support. MORE
December 3, 2008
Reinhold Friedl/Ensemble Zeitkratzer
Schönberg Pierrot Lunaire Cheap Imitation
Zeitkratzer Records ZKR 001
Mike Westbrook
Westbrook-Rossini
hatOLOGY 661
Uri Caine
The Othello Syndrome
Winter & Winter W&W 910 135-2
Speed/Cheek/Furic Leibovici
Jugendstil
ESP-Disk ESP 4048
Notated Music and Improvisation: Extended Play
So-called classic music and jazz have had an uneasy relationship since the beginning of the last century. Notated musicians yearned for jazz’s rhythmic and improvisational freedom, while jazzers coveted orchestral colors and financial support. MORE
December 3, 2008
Jugendstil
ESP-Disk ESP 4048
Mike Westbrook
Westbrook-Rossini
hatOLOGY 661
Uri Caine
The Othello Syndrome
Winter & Winter W&W 910 135-2
Reinhold Friedl/Ensemble Zeitkratzer
Schönberg Pierrot Lunaire Cheap Imitation
Zeitkratzer Records ZKR 001
Notated Music and Improvisation: Extended Play
So-called classic music and jazz have had an uneasy relationship since the beginning of the last century. Notated musicians yearned for jazz’s rhythmic and improvisational freedom, while jazzers coveted orchestral colors and financial support. MORE
July 2, 2008
On Duke’s Birthday
hatOLOGY 635
British pianist Mike Westbrook uses the resources available from 11 musicians on this 1984 festival recording to perform the rare feat of honoring the spirit of Duke Ellington without playing any of his melodies. Still, Westbrook’s five bittersweet compositions impressively capture the atmosphere and the harmonies that underline many of Ellington’s orchestral work. On the downside however, only a couple of Westbrook’s soloists possess the raw individualism that characterized the work of Ellington’s long-standing sidemen-interpreters. MORE