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Kate Westbrook: GRANITE
ByOne important point to mention at the outset is that the music for Granite was composed by Mike Westbrook, surely one of the finest and most prolific jazz composers Britain has produced. From the very start, the opener "Tracks Of Desire," evokes memories of Mike Westbrook's early foray into jazz rock with his group Solid Gold Cadillac. "Year's Rotation" is even rockier, adorned by stinging electric guitars. The work's libretto runs as a continuous poem, the words of which are printed in an accompanying booklet. The prose is neatly cut into twenty three short-ish tracks, with a whistled version of Irving Berlin's "Let's Face The Music" as a bonus track, of sorts.
There are moments of almost painful poignancy such as "Curlew Cry" (reprised later in "Yearning Bird"), but not all the songs are so plaintive. Take for example the bouncy reggae-like "Architects And Pornographers," the rapping on "Raw Creation" or the wryly explosive "Quarry Workers And Instrumentalists." There's one actual instrumental, albeit a very brief one, appropriately titled "Wordless, Wordless," which again is reminiscent of Solid Gold Cadillac. There's a distinctly rock-infused feel to the album generally, perhaps unsurprisingly, considering the band's two electric guitarists who afford considerable heft to the music. Notably, throughout this enticingly original textual jazz, the oft-repeated "G" word of the album's title pervades like letters through a stick of seaside rock.
Track Listing
Tracks of Desire; Years of Rotation; Spread-eagled; Glacial Flood; Helpless, Helpless; Curlew Cry; Architects and Pornographers; Sun and Moon; Raw Creation; Rain-soaked Summer; Sun-Warmed Soil; Story; Wordless, Wordless; Bathing Belles and Philosophers; Late Autumn; My Barricade; Salvation; Winter; Æons Old; Exile; Quarry Workers and Instrumentalists; Reckless, Reckless; Yearning Bird; Let’s Face the Music.
Personnel
Kate Westbrook
vocalsKate Westbrook: voice, text; Mike Westbrook: piano, composer; Roz Harding: alto sax; Jesse Molins: guitar; Matthew North: guitar; Billie Bottle: bass guitar; Coach York: drums.
Album information
Title: GRANITE | Year Released: 2018 | Record Label: Westbrook Records