Music in Progress. Mike Westbrook – jazz composer - ACE075.5

Westbrook at piano at same event, and group in dressing room; his VO names it as the "Brass Band and Cabaret" to suggest that its work is broader than just jazz, and that each individual musician is also a performer. Westbrook introduces (in French) Berthold Brecht and Kurt Weill’s Der Kanonen-Song; his VO talks about this as being "an ideal vehicle" for the Band. Westbrook says he’s found it interesting to reinterpret another composer’s material rather than write his own, particularly as he can bring it up to date. Performance continues; Westbrook’s VO points out that, because the finale is improvised, each performance emphasises something different. Westbrook says that, in addition to working with show tunes as many others do, the Band uses traditional English words and music such as Lady Howard’s Coach, a West Country song in which "Lady Howard" is another name for Death. The Band performing and recording this.