The Waxeywork Show is a triumphant record that demonstrates staunch commitment to fundamentals – finding new expressive possibilities from within  the depth of jazz tradition and risk-taking with a purpose.

The consistently high level of the instrumental playing is revelatory. Stan Willis’s alto is steeped in Johnny Hodges and Mike Brewer is a powerful lead trumpeter; his fulsome high notes behind Kate Westbrook on Bessie Smith’s “Shipwreck Blues” are pitched with unerring accuracy both to the note and to spirit. But this being a Westbrook record, the musicians are also challenged with a tricky new thirty minute composition, “The Waxeywork Show”. Kate’s scenario explores parallels between 19th Century freak shows and the Internet: “both have the power to corrupt through fascination,” she asserts. The piece climaxes with a nightmarish montage, like competing layers of musical activity are downloading simultaneously. The musicians have to pass through intricate bi-tonal harmonies and punchy grooves to get there; them Westbrooks remain plugged into the zeitgeist, creating bold music that’s fizzy with contemporary relevance.
Philip Clark - Jazz Review Feb/March 08 - Editor's Choice

All this, set as it is to Mike Westbrook's pungent, powerful music vigorously performed by the Village Band, is flawlessly sung by the dramatic but musicianly Kate Westbrook, and
the album is completed by a set of arrangements spanning decades of recorded jazz, from Jelly Roll Morton's 'Dead Man Blues' and Bessie Smith's 'Shipwreck Blues' to 'Monk's Mood'
and Neal Hefti's delicious 'Lil' Darlin'.

Anyone who witnessed the Westbrooks' 2006 London Jazz Festival performances will already know how compelling their music is in a live setting; recorded in January 2007 in
Dawlish, this album provides an absorbing reminder of just how effective their unique blend of jazz and theatrical elements can be.
Chris Parker -The Vortex