2001 - Chanson Irresponsable
An 80 minute work taking as its starting point the song of the Sedge Warbler. Commissioned by BBC Radio 3. Music by Mike Westbrook, texts by Kate Westbrook with Italian, French and German versions by Sergio Amadori, Lucienne Droz and Tommy Bodmer. Performed by the New Westbrook Orchestra combining jazz and classical players including a string quartet. Featuring as principal soloists two vocalists (Kate Westbrook and Matthew Sharp) and two saxophonists (Peter Whyman and Chris Biscoe).

World Premeiere Auditorium di Milano, September 2001.
UK Premiere Cabot Hall, Canary Wharf, London, 9 May 2002
Broadcast Premiere 'Performance on 3', 4 June 2002.
Album Release: Chanson Irresponsable Enja Records (2003)
More information

Chanson Irresponsable CD
Click on the title for more
information about a work
2007 Cape Gloss - Mathilda's Story
An opera for solo soprano voice and piano. Music: Mike Westbrook, Libretto: Kate Westbrook with Marie Vasilliou (soprano) and Brendan Ashe (piano) Carolyn Doorbar musical director.
World Premiere Sherwell Centre, Plymouth University, 25th February 2007.
More Information on Kate Westbrook's site
2000 Jago
An opera with libretto by Kate Westbrook, music by Mike Westbrook. Written for 4 principal soloists, with Wills Morgan in the title role, 12 soloists in supporting roles, children's choir, 60-piece chorus and chamber orchestra. Musical director Carolyn Doorbar, stage director Marilyn Johnstone.

Commissioned by Wedmore Opera. World premiere Wedmore, Somerset July 2000.
More information about Jago.
1994 Coming Through Slaughter
An opera based on Michael Ondaatje’s novel about the life of the New Orleans cornettist Buddy Bolden. Libretto by Michael Morris. Script consultant Kate Westbrook. Music by Mike Westbrook. Scored for seven classical voices, string quartet and valve trombone.

World premiere of concert version, featuring Wills Morgan as Bolden, conducted by Odaline de La Martinez, Q.E.H., London, Summer 1994. BBC Radio 3 broadcast produced by Derek Drescher 1995.
No commercial recording available.
More information
1993 Good Friday 1663
TV opera commissioned by Channel 4 TV, with libretto by Helen Simpson, based on her short story. Music by Kate Westbrook and Mike Westbrook.. Scored for the multi-tracked voice of Kate Westbrook, classical bass Simon Grant, synthesisers, saxophones /piccolo / flute, percussion.

Sound track recording produced by Jon Hiseman. Film directed by Frank Cvitanovich. Screened Spring 1995.

Issued by Jazzprint on CD in Westbrook Music Theatre series May 2002.
1989 Quichotte
An opera, commissioned by the Ensemble Justiniana, premiered at Saonora, Macon in April 1989, and subsequently toured in the Franche-Comte region. Directed by Charlotte Nessi with a libretto by Jean-Luc Lagarce that takes Cervantes’ Don Quixote as a starting point. Music by Mike Westbrook in collaboration with Kate Westbrook. Scored for four opera singers, a jazz vocalist (Kate Westbrook), a rock singer, a choir, four jazz instrumentalists and 80 piece harmonie (amateur brass band of the region).

No commercial recording available.
2007 Blues for a Blue Earth
Composition for string orchestra and soloist.
commissioned by Purbeck Strings with funds from South West Arts.

World premiere Swanage, Dorset, March 18 2007, with Billy Thompson violin, Alex Stanford piano, The Stanford Quartet, The Purbeck Festival Strings conducted by Ian Pillow.

No commercial recording available.
2002 Classical Blues 2002
Composition by Mike Westbrook for symphony orchestra plus solo piano. One of six pieces commissioned by the BBC Concert Orchestra to mark the Orchestra's 50th Anniversary.
Premiered with piano soloist John Alley, conductor Barry Wordsworth, Royal Festival Hall, London,September 26 2002.
Broadcast on BBC Radio 3, Thursday 19 December 2002. 
2001 Classical Blues 2001
A work by Mike Westbrook for classical wind quintet. Commissioned by the Summer Music Society of Dorset and the group Quintessence.
Premiere Dorset, June 2001.
1999 Classical Blues 1999
Composed by Mike Westbrook for Brass Quintet, commissioned by Harlequin Brass.  
1997 Cable Street Blues
A piece for string septet by Mike Westbrook, commissioned by The Gogmagogs and premiered at the City of London Festival in a performance directed by Lucy Bailey.
No commercial recording available.
1995 Blues for Terenzi
A 25 minute work dedicated to the memory of the trombonist Danilo Terenzi. Written for the Steve Martland Band. World premiere Cheltenham Festival. Summer 1995.
Included on album "THE ORCHESTRA OF SMITH'S ACADEMY"
ENJA RECORDS ENJ-9358 2.
1995 September Song
Arrangement by Mike Westbrook of the Kurt Weill song, for Saxophone and string quartet, commissioned by Barbara Thompson and recorded by her with the Medici Quartet on her album "Barbara Song" (Virgin Classics).
1991 Bean Rows and Blues Shots
Saxophone concerto by Mike Westbrook commissioned by Bournemouth Sinfonietta for John Harle. World premiere July 1991 in UK. Recorded by Decca / Argo and released in July 1992.

Decca Argo 4338472 Distributed in the UK by Polygram. (now deleted)
1988 In A Fix
A composition for saxophone quartet and percussion commissioned by the Delta Saxophone Quartet.

First performance: Almeida Theatre, London, 2 October 1988.

No commercial recording available.
2010 Frank Brangwyn- Stained Glass
Choral music for the film “Frank Brangwyn: Stained Glass” A catalogue raisonné, by Libby Horner, directed by Charles Mapleston, released on DVD by Malachite. Written for an a capella choir of women’s voices, performed by the group Miscellany.
2007 Tamar River
A documentary film about the River Tamar, commissioned by Mike Hooton for Weir Quay Boatyard. Music recorded by Mike Westbrook, keyboard, Jon Hiseman, drums, Kate Westbrook voice. Filmed by Will Halfacree.
View it here with Watching the River Flow as the first item.

Music available to download
1996 Camera Makes Whoopee
Score by Mike Westbrook to accompany a short (18 mm) movie by Norman McLaren. Commissioned for the Matrix Ensemble, conductor Robert Ziegler.

World premiere Q.E.H. London, March 1996

No commercial recording available.
1990 Moulin Rouge
Score by Mike Westbrook for full length silent feature film directed by E.A. Dupont (1928). Commissioned by the British Film Institute, the Auditorium du Louvre, Paris and BBC 2 TV for The Matrix Ensemble, conducted by Robert Ziegler.

World premier November 1990, 34th London Film Festival. BBC 2 TV broadcast 1992

No commercial recording available.
1986 Shift Work
TV drama starring Maureen Lipman directed by Angela Pope.
1980 Caught on a Train
Score by Mike Westbrook for BBC TV drama by Stephen Poliakoff, starring Peggy Ashcroft and Michael Kitchen, Directed by Peter Duffell and produced by Kenith Trodd.

Musicians involved were: Chris Biscoe/alto clarinet and alto sax, Alan Wakeman/sop and tenor sax, Kate Westbrook/tenor horn & piccolo, Phil Minton/trumpet, Brian Godding/guitar, Georgie Born/cello, Steve Cook/bass guitar, Dave Barry/drums, Mike Westbrook/piano.

Released by the BBC on video and DVD.
1978 Music in Progress
An Arts Council Film, directed by Charles Mapleston for Malachite Films. Focuses on the working life of the Mike Westbrook Brass Band (formed in 1973) - Phil Minton, Kate Westbrook, Dave Chambers, Paul Rutherford Mike Westbrook and Trevor Tomkins, recording and performing in London and on tour in France, playing in concert halls and in the streets. The Band’s repertoire embraced folk song, settings of William Blake, traditional jazz, popular songs, modem jazz, Brecht-Weill songs, Elizabethan music and contemporary improvised music.

Album, For The Record, originally released on Transatlantic, 1976.
Later released on CD and since deleted.
2022 Says The Duke
A big band tribute to Ellington with lyric by Kate. Added to On Duke’s Birthday and recorded by the Uncommon Orchestra at Ronnie Scotts, June 22.

Small band version recorded by the Granite Band in 2020.
Both versions to download from Westbrook Records.
Big Band Version            Granite Band Version
2014 - A Bigger Show
Composition for a new 22 - piece ensemble The Uncommon Orchestra, with text by Kate Westbrook, involving three actors/vocalists, full big band plus double rhythm section. Based on the Waxeywork Show. Developed in workshops with students at the Grieg Academy, Bergen and the Guildhall School, London. Previewed Dartmoor August 2014. Toured West Country from Summer 2015. Featured soloists include  vocalists Kate Westbrook, Martine Waltier and Billy Bottle, saxophonists Roz Harding and Alan Wakeman,  Dave Holdsworth on trumpet and sousaphone. Album A Bigger Show - Live, recorded at the Barnfield Theatre, Exeter July 2015. Release on ASC Records February 2016.
2007 - Empress Concerto
Composition by Mike Westbrook for improvising pianist and Harmonie (French Wind Band) dedicated to to Bessie Smith. One of a series "Portraits de Femmes" by eight contemporary composers. Featuring pianist Francois Raulin with L'Harmonie du Personell de la R.A.T.P. directed by Martin Lebel commissioned by La Forge, Grenoble. World Premiere Salle Gaveau, Paris, December 2007.
2006 Wasteground Concerto
For soloists and Big Band. Commissioned some 20 years ago but not performed until 2006 in London as part of Mike Westbrook's 70th birthday celebrations, with soloists Pete Whyman and Chris Biscoe and the Guildhall School of Music Jazz Band directed by Martin Hathaway.
2003 - Turner in Uri
A 7 part work based on the painter J.M.W. Turner's travels in Switzerland. Written for two solo vocalists, Kate Westbrook and classical baritone Claudio Danuser, choir (Schola Uriensis directed by Renaldo Battaglia) brass band (Brass Band Uri, conducted by Hans Burkhalter), jazz/rock group: Jon Hiseman (drums), Tim Harries (bass guitar), Mike Westbrook (piano), Chris Biscoe, Barbara Thompson (saxophones). Music: Mike Westbrook. Text: Kate Westbrook, including translations in the 5 Swiss languages, German, French, Italian, Swiss German and Rumantsch. Plus film projection of paintings by Kate Westbrook. Commissioned by Alpentöne Festival - Premiered in Altdorf and at Zurich Theater Spektakel, August 2003. Broadcast by Swiss Radio and TV. Documentary film directed by Charles Mapleston for Malachite Films, commissioned by Swiss TV.
More Information
1998 The Orchestra of Smith's Academy
Album on ENJA Records. Compositions by Mike Westbrook recorded ‘live’ by the Mike Westbrook Orchestra at the Outside-In Festival, Crawley in 1992, and by the Steve Martland Band at the Cheltenham Festival in 1995. Soloists include Dominique Pifarely (violin), Kate Westbrook (voice), Anthony Kerr (vibraphone), Pete Saberton (piano), Chris Biscoe, Peter Whyman, Alan Barnes (saxophones). Titles are: Checking In, I.D.M.A.T. (based on Ellington’s "It Don’t Mean A Thing"), Measure for Measure, So We’ll Go No More A’Roving, Blighters, Viennese Waltz, and Blues For Terenzi.

Album release: The Orchestra of Smith's Academy
ENJA RECORDS ENJ-9358 2
1997 Glad Day
A new recording, comprising all Mike Westbrook’s settings of the poetry of William Blake. Sung by Phil Minton and Kate Westbrook with the Mike Westbrook Brass Band,- Chris Biscoe, Alan Wakeman, Dave Barry, and Mike Westbrook, plus Peter Whyman and Steve Berry and the 30-piece Senior Girls Choir of Blackheath Conservatoire of Music and the Arts directed by Lucy McAlary.
Album release: GLAD DAY ENJA Records, June 1999.

Full choral version of Blake settings, premiered at Radio 3 Festival, Antwerp 1998 with Flemish Radio choir.
see also GLAD DAY LIVE.
1995 Bar Utopia
A song cycle with lyrics by Helen Simpson, music by Mike Westbrook. Scored for the 19 piece Mike Westbrook Orchestra and the voices of Kate Westbrook and John Winfield. Commissioned by Bath Festival and BBC Radio 3. World premiere Bath, Summer 1995. European Festivals. Contemporary Music Network Tour 1996. Performance with U.M.O. Jazz Orchestra, Helsinki Festival, 1997.

Album release: Bar Utopia on ASC Records 1996, on Enja Records, November 1997.
ENJA RECORDS ENJ 93332.
1992 Measure for Measure
Composition for voice and jazz orchestra by Mike Westbrook. Text by Kate Westbrook after William Shakespeare. Commissioned by the Vienna Art Orchestra. World premiere Mike Westbrook Music Festival in Catania, Sicily, July 1992.

Included on the album "The Orchestra Of Smith's Academy"
ENJA RECORDS ENJ-9358 2.
1987 Big Band Rossini
Composition for jazz orchestra and the voice of Kate Westbrook, based on the small group Westbrook-Rossini plus new material. Commissioned by Norddeutscher Rundfunk for the NDR Big Band. Premiered in Hamburg. Extensive touring in Europe with the Mike Westbrook Orchestra 1991-2.

UK festival premiere at the Royal Albert Hall, London in the 1992 BBC Promenade Concerts. Scandinavian tours with Swedish Tolvan Band 1991-2 and performed with Brisbane Biennial Big Band at Brisbane Biennial 1993 International Music Festival. Revived with The Uncommon Orchestra in 2014 under the title Rossini Re - Loaded for a number of performances, notably the Rossini Festival in Pesaro, the composer’s birthplace, 2018, and in 2022 at the Teatro Rossini, Lugo, where Rossini first performed.

See also Westbrook Rossini.

No commercial recording available.
1987 London Bridge is Broken Down
A composition for Voice, Jazz Orchestra and Chamber Orchestra, commissioned by LeTemps du Jazz, Amiens and premiered at the Maison de la Culture, Amiens. May 1987. Music by Mike Westbrook and settings of French. German and English texts, written and arranged by Kate Westbrook, including poems by Rene Arcos. Wilhelm Busch, Andree Chedid, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Bernard Lassahn and Siegfried Sassoon. Sung by Kate Westbrook, with a nine-piece jazz orchestra and classical chamber orchestra. Le Sinfonietta de Picardie, conducted by Alexandre Myrat.

7 LP sides, Double CD, Double cassette - London Bridge is Broken Down - released on Virgin Records’ Venture label June 1988 (now deleted).
Reissued in 2008 by BGO Records (now deleted)

London Premiere in 1990 with Docklands Sinfonietta at St Anne’s, Limehouse, with Docklands Sinfonietta conducted by Rupert Bond.
“London Bridge Live In Zurich 1990” recorded by Swiss Radio at Zurich International Jazz Festival released on Westbrook Records in 2022.
More Information and Reviews
1984 On Duke's Birthday
Dedicated to the memory of Duke Ellington. Composition by Mike Westbrook for 11-piece Jazz Orchestra. Commissioned by two French festivals: Le Temps du Jazz, Amiens, and Jazz en France, Angouleme. Premiered at the Maison de Ia Culture, Amiens, May 1984. Other festival appearances include Le Mans, Willisau, Florence and Santarcangelo.

Double LP On Duke’s Birthday, recorded live, released on Hat-ART (1985). First released on CD on Hat-ART (1989). (Now Deleted)
Hat-ART CD 6021 Distributed in the UK by Harmonia Mundi. - now deleted.
Reissued in July 2007 on hatOLOGY 635 (more information)
1983 After Smith's Hotel
(The Young Person’s Guide To The Jazz Orchestra)
A composition by Mike Westbrook for 17-piece Jazz Orchestra, with spoken introductions by the composer to the various sections of the work, with musical illustrations. Commissioned by Aldeburgh Festival - Snape Maltings Foundation.

Premiered at Snape Maltings, October 1983. BBC Radio 3 Broadcast 1984.

Download available
1980 The Westbrook Blake
Settings of the poetry of William Blake, with music by Mike Westbrook, texts selected by Adrian Mitchell Much of the material originally commissioned by the National Theatre for the 1971 production of Adrian Mitchell’s Tyger, directed by John Dexter and Michael Blakemore. The Blake settings, sung by Kate Westbrook and Phil Minton, were an integral part of the repertoire of the Mike Westbrook Brass Band from its formation in 1973. The Westbrook Blake (Bright As Fire), a programme entirely devoted to Blake’s poetry, was first performed in 1980 and has been widely performed throughout Britain and Europe, in New York (1983) and at the Adelaide Festival (1984).

See also the updated version of this work - Glad Day.
Also see Glad Day - Live.
LP The Westbrook Blake recorded for Original Records (1980).
Released in USA on Europa Records (1981).
LP & cassette re-released by Impetus (1987) and on CD (1991) all now deleted.
Available as a download
1979 The Cortege
A composition for Voices and 16-piece Jazz Orchestra including settings of poetry, arranged by Kate Westbrook, by Lorca, Rimbaud, Hesse, John Clare and other European poets, sung in the original languages by Kate Westbrook and Phil Minton. Commissioned by Bracknell Jazz Festival, 1979. and subsequently performed at the Edinburgh Festival and many European Festivals, including Camden, Angouleme, Vitrolles, Willisau and Santarcangelo. Selected material performed and recorded for radio with Big Band della RAI, Rome, in 1980, and with Sveriges Radio Jazz Group, Stockholm in 1987. Arts Council Contemporary Music Network Tour 1982.

Triple LP The Cortege recorded for Original Records (1982). Awarded Grand Prix du Disque, Montreux, 1982.
One hour TV documentary for BBC 2 directed by Tony Staveacre (1982).
Re-issued as double CD on Enja Records, 1992.
The Cortege - Enja Records ENJ 9587 2 Reissued 2011.

See our Cortege section for more information.
1974 Citadel / Room 315
Composition for Big Band by Mike Westbrook commissioned by Sveriges Radio and first performed in Stockholm in March 1974 by the Swedish Radio Jazz Group with soloist John Surman. Toured by the Mike Westbrook Orchestra (plus Surman) and recorded by RCA on LP in 1975, re-issued 1979 and again on CD on BMG's Novus 70 series (1991 - since deleted), and again on CD in 2006 on BMG BGOCD 713 (also deleted).

A recording of the Swedish premiere released under the title ‘Love and Understanding’ on the label My Only Desire in 2020.
1971 Copan / Backing Track
A seven and a half hour composition based on  overlapping time cycles, inspired by the Mayan Calendar. Seven musicians improvised over a pre-recorded backing track on which they had also played.
A programmed light show by Cyberdescence paralleled the musical cycles. Performed at University Festivals in  Guildford and Essex.
1969 Earthrise
A multi media work, commissioned by Sir Bernard Miles. Its  premiere at the Mermaid Theatre coincided with the Apollo 11 moon landing. A collaboration with John  Fox and the Welfare State theatre group, involving 25 piece rock orchestra, singer Norma Winstone, film projection and lighting effects.Touring version with The Cosmic Circus, including clowns, acrobats, magicians, film projections, mixed media and jazz/rock group.
1969 Metropolis
A composition initially performed in a quartet form, then sextet, then with a 17-piece orchestra combining jazz and rock rhythm sections.
Written with an Arts Council Bursary (the second ever awarded) and premiered by the Jazz Centre Society at the Mermaid Theatre, London on May 18th, 1969. Recorded with 25 piece orchestra in 1971 for RCA ‘s Neon label. Available on BGO Records.
1967 Marching Song
A two - hour composition on the subject of war developed with the Sextet and expanded for the Concert Band., with double rhythm section and additional brass and saxophones. Included sections by John Surman, Premiered in Plymouth, performed at the Camden Jazz Festival and Bath Festival. Recorded with a larger band - totalling 26 musicians - for Deram.
Re-released with a bonus disc in 2017
1968 Release
Composition for 10-piece Mike Westbrook Concert Band; Dave Holdsworth trumpet, Malcolm Griffiths, Paul Rutherford trombones, Mike Osborne, Bernie Living, George Khan, John  Surman saxophones, Harry Miller bass, Alan Jackson drums, Mike Westbrook piano. Premiered at Ronnie Scott’s Old Place. Recorded for Deram.
1967 Celebration
An extended work, including pieces by John Surman, for which the sextet: Mike Osborne, John Surman, Malcolm Griffiths, Harry Miller, Alan Jackson, Mike Westbrook was augmented by additional brass and saxophones to form the 12 piece Mike Westbrook Concert Band. Premiered at Liverpool University and in London at Ronnie Scott’s Old Place.  Sections from the work were recorded for the Deram album.
1977 White Suit Blues
Score for Adrian Mitchell’s music /theatre show about Mark Twain and “ his adventures in the after life”. Commissioned by Nottingham Playhouse. Directed by Richard Eyre with Trevor Peacock as Mark Twain. Premiered in Nottingham and staged at the Edinburgh Festival and the Old Vic in London. Later broadcast in a radio version by BBC Radio 3, directed by Jeremy Mortimer.(1983).
1972 Man Friday
Music score for Adrian Mitchell’s re-telling of the Robinson Crusoe story from Man Friday’s viewpoint. First recorded for BBC TV production, then adapted for the stage and toured the UK with the 7:84 Theatre Group, with the participation of Solid Gold Cadillac.
1971 Tyger
Score for Adrian Mitchell’s stage musical about William Blake. Commissioned by the National Theatre, co-­directed by John Dexter and Michael Blakemore. designed by Jocelyn Herbert. Cast included Gerald James, Jane Wenham, John Moffatt, Denis Quilley, Bill Fraser, Isabelle Lucas, Norman Beaton, Maureen Lipman, Staged in repertory at the New Theatre, St. Martin’s Lane (now the Noel Coward Theatre ). Original Cast recording released on RCA. TV adaptation, Glad Day, with Jonathan Pryce and Zoe Wanamaker, filmed for Thames in 1977. Updated version Tyger Two staged by RADA in 1996.
Compositions vocal and instrumental for Big Bands, Classical and Contemporary Music Ensembles, Stage, Opera, TV and Films
On
Complete Works Page 1
Compositions for small groups, music theatre and jazz cabaret
2018 In Memory of Lou Gare
A selection of the tenor saxophonist’s solos with the Uncommon Orchestra, recorded at various performances between 2010 and 2015. Album on Westbrook Records.
CD deleted. Download available
2008 GLAD DAY LIVE
First performance of new line-up was in the Foundling Museum as part of the 2007 London Festival of Contemporary Church Music: Kate Westbrook, Phil Minton, Karen Street (accordion), Billy Thompson (violin) and Mike Westbrook (piano) plus Choir. With the addition of Steve Berry (bass) and later Chris Biscoe (saxophone) this became the format for subsequent performances in UK Arts Festivals and in Moscow in 2018. Recorded and filmed by Jon Hiseman at Toynbee Hall, London in 2008. Released on DVD/CD in 2014.
1992 Factotum al Bebop
Based on Rossini‘s Largo al Factotum from The Barber of Seville. Mike Westbrook Orchestra featuring Alan Barnes (alto sax), Anthony Kerr (vibraphone). Added to Big Band Rossini. Premiere: Mike Westbrook Music Festival, Catania. Recorded versions on albums "The Orchestra of Smith’s Academy" and "Catania".
1990 I.D.M.A.T.
A re-construction of ‘It don’t mean a thing’ commissioned by John Harle for his Ellington album. Recorded by a big band in Abbey Road Studios but not included on the album. Premiered by the Mike Westbrook Orchestra in Catania in 1992 with soloists Pete Whyman, saxophone, and Anthony Kerr, vibraphone, and performed at other festivals. Recorded on the albums ‘The Orchestra of Smith’s Academy’ and ‘Catania’.
1981 Mowgli’s Jungle
Score for stage musical by Adrian Mitchell from Rudyard Kipling’s Jungle Book. The Manchester Contact Theatre Company, artistic director Richard Williams. Includes a setting of Edward Lear‘s Calico Pie.
1972 The Apocalyptic High Dive into the Pit of Molten Fire
A large - scale multi - media event at the Tower of London. One of a series of productions by The Cosmic Circus staged in dimerent locations. Directed by John Fox and Mike Westbrook.
1970 Original Peter
Multi - media “happening”commissioned by BBC TV. Westbrook Band plus Welfare State theatre group, actors and Circus artists. Event devised with John Fox, directed by Tony Staveacre.
On
Complete Works Page 1
Compositions for small groups, music theatre and jazz cabaret
Mike's Complete Works
page two
Mike Westbrook