Visions and Voices: Echoes of William Blake : Mike Westbrook, St James's Church, Piccadilly, London (GB) - Nov 24, 2022

Mike Westbrook and band performed The Westbrook Blake, his well-known composition of which I’ve had a cassette recording for very many years, so am very familiar with the music. Westbrook pianos and declamatory speech, Kate Westbrook and Phil Minton vocals and vocalisation, Steve Berry double bass, Billy Thompson violin, Chris Biscoe saxophones, Karen Street accordion, Matthew Bourne pianos (including inside the grand). So different live: the melodies hit you with their power, Kate Westbrook’s voice was a wonder, Phil Minton’s quite extraordinary pyrotechics, really great playing from each of the other musicians, the accordion particularly unusual. The programme was London Song, Let The Slave/The Price of Experience, Lullaby, Holy Thursday, A Poison Tree, Long John Brown And Little Mary Bell, The Children Of Blake, The Tyger And The Lamb, The Human Abstract, The Fields, Golden Builders, I See Thy Form, words taken from the work of William Blake, great poet, artist, engraver, mystic, visionary, observer of the horror of the London of his day. A terrific gig. Reviewed by Richard Williams 25 November 2022, thebluemoment.com.