The Mike Westbrook Concert Band – Mike Westbrook's Love Songs

The Mike Westbrook Concert Band – Mike Westbrook's Love Songs

Mike Westbrook's Love Songs is a landmark of 1970s British jazz, combining expansive jazz arrangements with rock influences, atmospheric vocals and the adventurous spirit of the UK's progressive jazz scene. Originally recorded in March and April 1970 and released on Deram, the album features the Mike Westbrook Concert Band alongside vocalist Norma Winstone and guitarist Chris Spedding.

Led by pioneering British pianist, composer and bandleader Mike Westbrook, the album occupies a fascinating space between progressive jazz, jazz-rock, avant-garde jazz and sophisticated vocal music. Rather than following a conventional song format, the four Love Songs unfold as extended compositions, allowing the large ensemble to move between intricate arrangements, improvisation, lyrical passages and powerful instrumental sections.

The album's unusual character is partly down to its remarkable line-up. Alongside Westbrook on piano are Norma Winstone on vocals, Chris Spedding on guitar, Mike Osborne, George Khan and John Warren on saxophones, Dave Holdsworth on trumpet and flugelhorn, Malcolm Griffiths and Paul Rutherford on trombones, Harry Miller on bass and Alan Jackson on drums.

The opening Love Song No. 1 introduces the album's distinctive combination of ensemble jazz and expressive vocals, while the nine-minute Love Song No. 2 expands the concept into a much more exploratory piece. Autumn King follows with another beautifully arranged performance, before Side B opens with the twelve-minute Love Song No. 3, the longest and one of the most ambitious pieces on the record.

Love Song No. 4 continues the album's expansive approach, moving between delicate passages and more powerful ensemble playing, while Original Peter provides a memorable conclusion. The album's music was inspired by poems written by Westbrook's first wife, Caroline Menis, giving the record an unusually personal and poetic dimension.

Love Songs is particularly notable for the way Westbrook incorporated rock guitar and contemporary rhythms into a large jazz ensemble, reflecting the rapidly changing British music scene around 1970. The presence of Chris Spedding is especially significant, adding a distinctive guitar colour to Westbrook's already adventurous arrangements.

For collectors of Mike Westbrook vinyl, British jazz, progressive jazz and jazz-rock, this is an essential and highly distinctive release. It will appeal to fans of John Surman, Norma Winstone, Keith Tippett, Soft Machine, Graham Collier and the more experimental side of 1970s British jazz.

A fascinating piece of British jazz history, Mike Westbrook's Love Songs is an atmospheric, ambitious and beautifully unconventional album that sits between jazz, progressive rock and avant-garde composition.

Tracklist

Side A

1. Love Song No. 1 – 5:50
2. Love Song No. 2 – 9:28
3. Autumn King – 6:09

Side B

1. Love Song No. 3 – 12:14
2. Love Song No. 4 – 8:01
3. Original Peter – 7:51