Mike Westbrook Recordings
The Last Night At The Old Place
The Mike Westbrook Concert Band
Compositions and arrangements by Mike Westbrook
1. The Few
2. Lover Man
3. For Ever and a Day
4. We Salute You
5. The Few
6. Folk Song
7. Flying Home
8. Sugar
9. Who's Who
10. Can't Get it Out Of My Mind
11. A Life Of Its Own
Track Listing
Personnel
Sound Samples
Mike Osborne, Bernie Living, George Khan, John Surman* saxophones
Malcolm Griffiths, Paul Rutherford trombones
Dave Holdsworth trumpet
Mike Westbrook piano
Harry Miller bass
Alan Jackson drums

*John Surman is an ECM recording artist
Recorded at Ronnie Scott's Old Place on 25 May 1968 by George Smith
Produced by Mike Westbrook and Mike Gavin
Associate Producer Shirley Thompson
Editing and mastering by Martin Davidson
Original photographs courtesy Westbrook Jazz Archive
photographers unknown
Reprographics and CD package design by David Ilic
Cadillac Records SGCCD 016

Remembering John Jack, Mike Osborne, Harry Miller, Paul Rutherford
Available from Discovery Records http://tinyw.in/vM1O and Bandcamp http://tinyw.in/Yh2e
Information
Mike Westbrook
In 1968 Deram issued Release, the Concert Band’s second album, a suite combining oldies and original compositions in a glorious mélange of punchy ensembles and rousing solos. The work had been developing for some months before this recording, made on the night that Ronnie Scott’s original club in Gerard Street closed. I have lived with and loved the Deram recording for 50 years, so this performance took some adjusting to. For the 1968 recording the suite was trimmed down in overall length, although the LP included pieces absent from this session. At Scott’s the soloists got more time to explore fewer pieces. There is more space for the great Osborne and the too infrequently recorded Living and Khan: Living’s chromaticism could turn litmus red and Khan used a splintered plank for a reed.
Review
Westbrook not only facilitates an accommodation between written and improvised material but skilfully brings different styles and eras together with no sense of strain. Compared with the LP the detail of the band’s sound suffers slightly, a couple of early ensembles are less tight, and some solos upset my comfortable/lazy familiarity with the Deram versions, but that only adds to the sense of immediacy and exploration: if I didn’t have my picky reviewer’s hat on I’d happily brush those points aside as minor and irrelevant. Convincingly mixing swing and free improv, it’s essential for anyone interested in the rich flowering of British jazz in the late 60s ... or just in exhilarating, creative music. Not least amongst its merits is the impressive line-up of then-young musicians making their mark, soon to become major figures.
Barry Witherden - Jazz Journal
The Last Night At The Old Place CD cover
Order From
Other Westbrook CDs are available from
£12.00 inc UK P/P ONLY
PayPal
Unfortunately, we are unable to collect the appropriate taxes for purchases outside the UK on this website.
Mike Westbrook