On The Village Band Page on Westbrookjazz
Internationally acclaimed composer/performers Mike and Kate Westbrook, now based in the West Country, are joined by 4 leading Devonian musicians to form The Village Band.
The Band made its debut in early 2006 and by the end of the year had appeared in a number of West Country Festivals, arts centres and jazz clubs. The band was featured at the London Jazz Festival with several performances including a 'live' broadcast of The Waxeywork Show from the Pizza Express Jazz Club on BBC's Jazz on 3.
From 2007 while maintaining its South Devon base, the Village Band has begun to tour more widely in the UK with performances in Durham, Leeds, Cambridge and Liverpool. The Band also recorded its first album Waxeywork Show , for the jazzprint label. Available from JAZZCD's online.
The repertoire of The Village Band:
Waxeywork Show is an original piece for voice and acoustic brass by
Mike Westbrook specially created for the group, featuring lyrics and vocals
by Kate Westbrook.
In ‘all THAT jazz', the Band performs Mike Westbrook's arrangements of Classic Jazz Instrumentals, Songs, Blues and Rags. The programme includes Scott Joplin, Duke Ellington, Jelly Roll Morton, Thelonious Monk, Charles Mingus and many more.
A new piece for the Village Band, “English Soup or The Battle of the Classic Trifle" with music by Mike Westbrook and text by Kate Westbrook, was recently premiered at the Peninsula Arts Contemporary Music Festival Plymouth.