Kate Westbrook
The Westbrook Quartet
Love or Infatuation
The Hollywood Songs of Frederick Hollander
The Hollywood Songs of Frederick Hollander
Kate Westbrook voice Roz Harding saxophone
Marcus Vergette bass Mike Westbrook piano
the four West Country musicians present their highly original de-construction of songs from such movies as Foreign Affair, Cocoanut Grove and Destry Rides Again
Marcus Vergette bass Mike Westbrook piano
the four West Country musicians present their highly original de-construction of songs from such movies as Foreign Affair, Cocoanut Grove and Destry Rides Again
“The Quartet established a witty cabaret atmosphere, with Kate Westbrook’s precise diction catching the lyrics of movie composer Frederick Hollander in Mike Westbrook’s typically intelligent arrangements.
The big hits - Falling in Love Again and See What The Boys in the Backroom will Have’- got suitably disrespectful treatment, but there was genuine sensuality in You Leave Me Breathless (with subtle sax solo by Roz Harding) and the energetic breakdown of Black Market’s stabbing piano and jumpy saxophone matched the provocation of the words.” Jazzwise
The big hits - Falling in Love Again and See What The Boys in the Backroom will Have’- got suitably disrespectful treatment, but there was genuine sensuality in You Leave Me Breathless (with subtle sax solo by Roz Harding) and the energetic breakdown of Black Market’s stabbing piano and jumpy saxophone matched the provocation of the words.” Jazzwise
Frederick Hollander, like his contemporary Kurt Weill, moved to the States in the 1930s. Hollander wound up as a jobbing composer in Hollywood. He wrote music for 150 movies, with songs for such stars as Marlene Dietrich, Carole Lombard and Dorothy Lamour. An early hit was Dietrich’s Falling in Love Again from the film The Blue Angel. These songs, usually sentimental ballads with lyrics by Hollywood hacks, were a far cry from Hollander’s satirical and heavily political Berlin work. Along with the movies that featured them, most of the songs sank into obscurity.
Introduced to Hollander’s Hollywood Songs by composer Dirk Raulf, we found in his largely forgotten output a treasure-trove of tuneful, witty, touching songs, many of which rank with the best of Rogers & Hart and Cole Porter. Is there another love song in the Great American Song Book to touch You Leave Me Breathless? We carved up the lyrics and wove them into the scenario for a Jazz Cabaret. The songs tell an exuberant, humorous and tender story of Romantic Love.There is a Brechtian ambiguity too in the eternal question Is it Love or is it Infatuation? Mike and Kate Westbrook
Introduced to Hollander’s Hollywood Songs by composer Dirk Raulf, we found in his largely forgotten output a treasure-trove of tuneful, witty, touching songs, many of which rank with the best of Rogers & Hart and Cole Porter. Is there another love song in the Great American Song Book to touch You Leave Me Breathless? We carved up the lyrics and wove them into the scenario for a Jazz Cabaret. The songs tell an exuberant, humorous and tender story of Romantic Love.There is a Brechtian ambiguity too in the eternal question Is it Love or is it Infatuation? Mike and Kate Westbrook
Peter Conway.
peter@peterconwaymanagement.com
peter@peterconwaymanagement.com
