Record Reviews

MIKE WESTBROOK ~ PAINTBOX JANE WESTBROOK 010 (Barcode: 5024545977127) ~ UK ~ Jazz Recorded: 2017 Released: 2022 This is an album by British pianist / composer / bandleader Mike WestbrookFind albums by this artist, his wife vocalist / lyricist Kate WestbrookFind albums by this artist and a bunch of friends, collectively known as Westbrook & CompanyFind albums by this artist, which includes vocalists Martine WaltierFind albums by this artist and Billie BottleFind albums by this artist, actor Tim GoodwinFind albums by this artist, saxophonist Alan WakemanFind albums by this artist and bassist Marcus VergetteFind albums by this artist. It presents a musical play, with music by Mike Westbrook and libretto by Kate Westbrook, first performed in London in 2016 and recorded in the Temple Music Studios in 2017 by the lamented Jon HisemanFind albums by this artist, to be released only five years later. The album presents fifteen mostly relatively short tracks (but three of which last for about ten minutes each), all but one composed by Westbrook. The show presents a scene based around the great French painter Raoul DufyFind albums by this artist painting a portrait of Jane on the Nice promenade, when (as the description on the album’s booklet says): “a troupe of singers and instrumentalists enter into a spirited exchange with the painter about the nature of Art and his place in its history”. The music is absolutely exquisite and offers some of Westbrook’s most melodic and lyrical pieces ever, in most cases beautifully sung Kate. In other cases, the music serves as a background to the spoken texts by the vocalists / actors. As usual with the Westbrooks in action, the entire album is soaked in European aesthetics, which deals with Culture in all its aspects and manifestations, with an emphasis on painting in this case. The philosophical and existential issues touch upon in Kate’s libretto is a reoccurring in many different disguises in her literary work since many years. The intimate and minimalist instrumental settings of just saxophone / keyboards / bass manage to create a completely coherent soundtrack to the proceedings, with brilliant soloing by Wakeman and solid bass pulsations by Vergette, with Mike brilliantly providing the harmonic / melodic background to the entire extravaganza. As usual, this music is simply bigger than life in every aspect. Overall, this is another Masterpiece by the Westbrooks and their cohorts, absolutely exploding with brilliant music all over and superbly put together with the spoken word, singing and playing creating a magic carpet ride of multilayered stimuli. Absolutely not to be missed and a crucial piece of the Westbrooks puzzle, which seems to know no borders or limitations. Epic!

Updated: 02/02/2023Posted: 02/02/2023

CD 1 Digipak Recommend To A Friend