''The Cortège'' is an album by the

Mike Westbrook Michael John David Westbrook (born 21 March 1936) is an English jazz pianist, composer, and writer of orchestrated jazz pieces. He is married to the vocalist, librettist and painter Kate Westbrook. Early work Mike Westbrook was born in Hig ...

Orchestra, performing a composition for jazz orchestra composed by Westbrook with texts from

Federico Garcia Lorca Federico (; ) is a given name and surname. It is a form of Frederick, most commonly found in Spanish, Portuguese and Italian. People with the given name Federico Artists * Federico Ágreda, Venezuelan composer and DJ. * Federico Aguilar Alcuaz, ...

Arthur Rimbaud Jean Nicolas Arthur Rimbaud (, ; 20 October 1854 – 10 November 1891) was a French poet known for his transgressive and surreal themes and for his influence on modern literature and arts, prefiguring surrealism. Born in Charleville, he starte ...

Hermann Hesse Hermann Karl Hesse (; 2 July 1877 – 9 August 1962) was a German-Swiss poet, novelist, and painter. His best-known works include ''Demian'', ''Steppenwolf (novel), Steppenwolf'', ''Siddhartha (novel), Siddhartha'', and ''The Glass Bead Game'', ...

William Blake William Blake (28 November 1757 – 12 August 1827) was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his life, Blake is now considered a seminal figure in the history of the poetry and visual art of the Romantic Age. ...

Giuseppe Gioachino Belli Giuseppe Francesco Antonio Maria Gioachino Raimondo Belli (7 September 1791 – 21 December 1863) was an Italian poet, famous for his sonnets in Romanesco, the dialect of Rome. Biography Giuseppe Francesco Antonio Maria Gioachino Raimondo Belli ...

John Clare John Clare (13 July 1793 – 20 May 1864) was an English poet. The son of a farm labourer, he became known for his celebrations of the English countryside and sorrows at its disruption. His work underwent major re-evaluation in the late 20th ce ...

Pentti Saarikoski Pentti Saarikoski (Impilahti, now in the Republic of Karelia September 2, 1937 – Joensuu August 24, 1983) was one of the most important poets in the literary scene of Finland during the 1960s and 1970s. His body of work comprises poetry and ...

, and other European poetry, which was recorded in 1982 and first released as a triple LP on the Original label and reissued as a double CD on

Enja Enja Records is a German jazz record company and label based in Munich which was founded by jazz enthusiasts Matthias Winckelmann and Horst Weber in 1971. The label's first release was by Mal Waldron, and early releases included European and Ja ...

in 1993 and 2011.Mike Westbrook discography: album details
accessed July 17, 2018

Reception

The

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

review by Dave Lynch called it "an often stunning work of massive scope and an indisputable highlight of Westbrook's career" and stated "''The Cortège'' might be too sprawling for a first investigation of Westbrook, but it warrants consideration as the centerpiece of any Westbrook collection". On

All About Jazz ''All About Jazz'' is a website established by Michael Ricci in 1995. A volunteer staff publishes news, album reviews, articles, videos, and listings of concerts and other events having to do with jazz. Ricci maintains a related site, ''Jazz Near ...

Chris May called it "one of finest achievements of British orchestral jazz".May, C.
All About Jazz Review
accessed July 17, 2018

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the w ...

's Dave Gelly noted "It's only recently that the evolution of distinctly European forms of jazz has been acknowledged, but it began decades ago. One of the first milestones was this huge, unsettling work. .... ''The Cortège'' evolved over several years and, if there is a definitive version, this 1982 recording is it".Gelly. D
The Observer Review
accessed July 17, 2018

Track listing

All compositions by Mike Westbrook # "It Starts Here" – 5:18 # "Democratie" – 7:55 # "Berlin 16.2.79" – 9:25 # "Erme Estuary" – 8:40 # "Guitar Solo" – 2:31 # "Knivshult/Ash Wednesday" – 4:54 # "Ruote Che Girano" – 6:48 # "Piano" – 3:06 # "Leñador" – 11:32 # "July '79" – 12:49 # "Enface" – 14:03 # "Cordoba" – 8:11 # "Santarcangelo: Free as Bird" – 1:18 # "Santarcangelo: Evening" – 1:35 # "Santarcangelo: Jerusalem" – 2:27 # "Santarcangelo: Dawn" – 1:50 # "Santarcangelo: Piped Music" – 3:35 # "Santarcangelo: Dirge" – 0:55 # "Santarcangelo: Didn't He Ramble" – 1:41 # "Santarcangelo: Cadenza" – 3:39 # "Kyrie" – 6:12 # "A Hearth Burns: The Toper's Rant" – 8:49 # "A Hearth Burns: Une Vie" – 1:15 # "Graffitti" – 6:24 # "Duet" – 2:45

Personnel

– piano, tuba *

Phil Minton Phil Minton (born 2 November 1940) is a British avant-garde jazz/ free-improvising vocalist and trumpeter. Minton is a highly dramatic baritone who tends to specialize in literary texts: he has sung lyrics by William Blake with Mike Westbrook's ...

– trumpet, voice *Dave Plews,

Guy Barker Guy Jeffrey Barker, (born 26 December 1957) is an English jazz trumpeter and composer. Early life Barker was born in Chiswick, London, the son of an actress and a stuntman. He started playing the trumpet at the age of twelve, and within a year ...

, Dick Pearce – trumpet *Malcolm Griffiths – trombone *

Kate Westbrook Kate Westbrook may refer to: *Kate Westbrook (musician) (born 1939), singer/songwriter *Kate Westbrook, pseudonym for Samantha Weinberg Samantha Weinberg is a British novelist, journalist and travel writer. Educated at St Paul's Girls' School and ...

– tenor horn, piccolo, bamboo flute, voice *Alan Sinclair, Dave Powell – tuba *Chris Hunter, Phil Todd,

Chris Biscoe Chris Biscoe (born 5 February 1947, East Barnet, Hertfordshire, England) is an English jazz multi-instrumentalist, a player of the alto, soprano, tenor and baritone saxophone, the alto clarinet, piccolo and flute. Biscoe is most notable for hi ...

– saxophones *

Lindsay Cooper Lindsay Cooper (3 March 1951 – 18 September 2013) was an English bassoon and oboe player and composer. Best known for her work with the band Henry Cow, she was also a member of Comus, National Health, News from Babel and David Thomas and the ...

– bassoon, oboe, saxophone *

Brian Godding Brian Godding (born 19 August 1945, Monmouth, South Wales) is a pop music, pop, rock music, rock and jazz rock guitarist. Reviews Regarding his 1988 solo album ''Slaughter on Shaftesbury Avenue'', Dave Wayne in the ''New Gibraltar Encyclopedia ...

– guitar *Georgie Born – cello *Steve Cook – bass *Dave Barry – drums

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cortege, The 1982 albums Mike Westbrook albums Enja Records albums