Westbrook Notice Board - October 2025

In December 2007, we were invited to a concert in Paris. It was the annual gala of L’Harmonie RATP (the Parisian Regional Transport Wind and Percussion Band - our equivalent would be something like a TFL Transport for London Band) - at the lovely Salle Gaveau in Paris. Mike Westbrook was one of eight contemporary composers commissioned to write a piece for the band.

Mike’s composition was Empress Concerto for improvising pianist and Harmonie and dedicated to Bessie Smith. It was one of a series "Portraits de Femmes" and featured pianist François Raulin (who also composed one of the pieces), double bass player Bruno Chevillon, and the L'Harmonie du Personell de la R.A.T.P. , directed by Martin Lebel.

The works were commissioned by La Forge, Grenoble. There is more information here in French.

Here is the complete list of composers and their pieces:
Marc DUCRET // Virginia Woolf
Michel MANDEL // Susie Creppy
François RAULIN // Gena Rowland
Louis SCLAVIS // Nan Goldin
Pascal BERNE // Josephine Baker
Andy EMLER // Marie-Louise Boëllmann
Mike WESTBROOK // Bessie Smith
Alain GIBERT // Bibi Andersson

We arranged to meet Mike and Kate at the venue. We heard from Mike that the composition had been challenging. He needed to write interesting but not too difficult parts for all the players, because they are mostly amateurs, and he had to accommodate the unconventional instrumentation of the band – that year there were more than forty players, including multiple trombones, loads of clarinets and several flutes.

The venue was magnificent, but the show was quite long, and some of the music to my ears was underwhelming, and not to my taste. In contrast, Mike’s piece was terrific, with tunes and harmony, and great big chords, and the band so obviously enjoying playing it, that it was a joy to see. Eventually the show concluded, the composers and the performers took their bows.

Though it was quite late, we set off to find somewhere to eat. Our party had grown to include other friends of the composer: Dominique Pifarely, violinist who often plays in Mike’s band and who lives in Paris, and his partner Chantal Boursau; Peter Fritz, a literary agent from Zurich, long-time fan whom we had met at several Westbrook shows in England; and a woman in striking glasses with a mass of dark hair, Bénédicte LaForet-Numerkel, director of the Jazz Festival in Maison de la Culture, Grenoble, who ended up inviting the Harmonie RATP to recreate this show for the Grenoble Festival the following year.

We went out onto the freezing Boulevard and took stock, quickly realising that this was not an area buzzing with late night cafes and restaurants. Kate was walking with a stick that year as she was waiting for a hip replacement, but she was willing, so we set off. Bob was sure that, even at that time of night, we could find somewhere agreeable where a large group of people could just walk in without a reservation. I was not so confident.

After a while we stumbled across a Turkish place, mainly takeaway but with some high formica benches where you could stand and eat, beneath an unflattering neon strip light. We paused outside - Bob maintained we would find somewhere great where we could at least sit down, if we just walked a bit further. Kate agreed and graciously walked on, and the rest of us followed behind. I privately thought our situation was hopeless.

I was completely wrong. After a few minutes we rounded a corner, and found ourselves at the Gare Saint-Lazare, opposite which stands a vast Art Nouveau edifice the Brasserie Mollard, open all hours. We were ushered in by a waiter in an ankle length apron, and shown to a line of tables in an alcove twinkling with Byzantine-style gold mosaics stuck with coloured glass embellishments. It was perfect - and the lighting, illuminating the white linens and making the glass and silver ware sparkle, was very flattering. Mike was ravenous by now so we all ordered. Peter kindly offered to buy the drinks, and ordered some excellent bottles of wine.

We ate and drank our fill, the food and wine was delicious, the surroundings exceptional, and the company was an absolute delight. I had the strangest feeling which I shall try and explain. Often when I travel, I feel as if I really should have been wherever it is that I am, at some time in the past, in its heyday, oh you should have been here in the sixties, oh in the 1920s this place was really something, and so on. But here I was, on a cold December night, in Paris, in 2007, in an extraordinary place, surrounded by friends, old and new, celebrating Mike’s latest musical success and I was sure that, this time, I was in the right place right then in the here and now. It was a glorious realisation.

When it was time to go, Peter picked up the bill and insisted on paying for everything for everyone! We accepted his generosity, put on our coats and wandered back out into the frosty night. It was after two in the morning by now. Only at this point did I wonder how we would all get home.

Kate looked around and announced that their hotel was nearby. We said our goodbyes and off she and Mike walked, both relieved to have just a short stroll to bed. The lady from Grenoble spotted a taxi and she was gone. The rest of us discussed where we needed to get to.

Bob and I were staying in Pigalle, Dominique and Chantal live in Barbès and Peter was in a hotel a bit further over in Place République. As we were pondering how to get home, a night bus pulled up in front us with its route emblazoned on the side - Pigalle - Barbès - République.

Dominique magicked up bus tickets for each of us from his jeans pocket and we all jumped on. I may be imagining the next bit, but I have a recollection of seeing the three of them standing chatting framed by the bus door window, as we trotted off to our flat in Pigalle. A perfect evening.

Jane Mann

Detail of a pillar in the Brasserie Mollard

Empress Concerto at the Salle Gaveau in Paris December 2007

See the Moving Picture Show No. 86
for a later performance at Grenoble in March 2008

You can hear Empress Concerto from this concert at the foot of the page

(Here is a photo of the concert, courtesy of the Harmonie RATP website « portrait de femme » – GAM RATP )