CULTURE CLUB
Jazz It Up BRIDGING THE GAP BETWEEN JAZZ AND OTHER GENRES, MIKE WESTBROOK WILL SOON BRING HIS BIG BAND TO CAMBRIDGE – MIRIAM BALANESCU LISTENS IN ON THE SCENE
elcoming not one individual, quartet or band in celebration of Cambridge Modern Jazz’s
50th anniversary, an entire 25-piece orchestra will cram into the West Road Concert Hall on 27 September, to perform Mike Westbrook’s Rossini Reloaded . The garlanded composer – bestowed with an OBE – rose to prominence throughout the 60s, steering bands of all sizes and releasing a colossal 50 albums. However, it’s his 1984 Westbrook-Rossini project that Mike has returned to again and again – kindled when he was invited to compose for a William Tell -themed festival in Lausanne. “Kate Westbrook, my partner, said, ‘I think we better have a listen to Rossini’s William Tell to start.’ Having never thought of doing such a thing before, we arranged and adapted the overture. “The whole ethos of Rossini’s work appealed to me because of its spontaneity,” Mike continues. “He was incredibly lazy, writing a lot while still in bed. If he was doing an aria and it fell on the floor, he’d write another one, rather than get up. It’s just great Italian pop music, putting it very crudely. When Rossini came to London, long before social media, thousands of people turned up to meet him.” In one of its many iterations, Big Band Rossini arrived at the BBC Proms in 1992, although its swoop
IN CONTROL Mike Westbrook’s understanding and love of jazz is second to none
“In the 70s, there was something of a jazz resurgence, following the rock-pop domination of the 60s,” says John. “A new generation of young jazz musicians, centred around bands like Mike’s, had come to the forefront – but outside of London, there were few venues to play.” Spying an opportunity, Joan Morrell – who founded her first club as a teen – set up Cambridge Modern Jazz. “Her motivation, having moved to the area and married a pretty tidy saxophonist, was to provide an opportunity for new and emerging artists to ply their trade in a supportive and open-minded forum,” says David. “She was moved by the plight and indignities suffered by black and minority ethnic players, particularly in the US and South Africa. Through her untiring efforts, she was able to offer many such artists a valuable platform to develop their art.” Skipping between 13 venues over five decades, Cambridge Modern Jazz has not seen pre-pandemic audience numbers fully recover. This September’s celebrations, with many musicians once nurtured by the club now showing support, feels especially poignant. Here’s to another 50 years of pioneering jazz in the city!
any particular style – it’s more a kind of attitude,” he says. “As a jazz performer, you take material and interpret it in your own way.” Straying to musical theatre territory, his influences are also literary, with a repertoire including the William Blake play Tyger , an operatic adaptation of Michael Ondaatje’s Coming Through Slaughter and interpretations of DH Lawrence works. “I have always had a feeling that
onto the classical scene was then controversial. “A jazz group playing in the Royal Albert Hall had never been done. It was frowned upon by most of the BBC establishment,” Mike says. “You ran up against categorisation. The relationship with jazz is a bit uneasy.
It isn’t any particular style – it’s more a kind of attitude
any performance can be seen as theatre,” Mike insists. “People watching an activity, even without conscious theatrical elements – costumes, scenery, dialogue – is a spectacle. You can programme
that in the way you choose your material and how you present the work, so that’s what runs through everything.” With John Blandford, former co- promoter of Mike in 1968, now at the helm of Cambridge Modern Jazz along with David Gower, the musician’s connection to this Cambridge club stretches far back.
We feel we should be free to work with whomever we want – whether that’s a classical ensemble, chamber orchestra, string quartet or symphony orchestra. The main thing is the music and what you’re trying to express.” For Mike, jazz is not so much defined by rules, but an approach. “It isn’t really
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