The Mike Westbrook Concert Band – Marching Song Vol. 1

Label: Audio Clarity – ACL0044

FORMAT: VINYL LP

BARCODE: 889397107444

Reissue on vinyl for this album, recorded and released in 1969 on Decca's Deram label, was a double LP (also sold as two separate records), and therefore quite unusual for the time, especially for jazz. It comprised a suite of compositions by Westbrook, with three tracks on Volume 2 written by John Surman, and based on the concept of the vainglorious futility of war. Volume 1's "Hooray!" begins with roaring crowd noise, years before sampling was even heard of, and not dissimilar to the opening of Weather Report's "Nubian Sundance" on Mysterious Traveller. Then come the drums, beating in unison courtesy of John Marshall and Alan Jackson. "Landscape" begins with Westbrook alone on piano but a highlight of this longish piece is the arco bass duet featuring Barre Phillips and Harry Miller sounding surprisingly like a string quartet to the unaware. "Waltz (for Joanna)" is a gorgeous piece of writing embellished by a peerless soaring soprano solo by Surman. Following a sombre short ensemble link track, "Landscape II," Paul Rutherford produces an appropriately free trombone solo on "Other World."

TRACKLIST

A1 Hooray!

A2 Landscape

A3 Waltz (for Joanna)

B1 Landscape (II)

B2 Other World