On Duke's Birthday
Live album by
Mike Westbrook Orchestra
Released1985
RecordedMay 12, 1984
VenueLe Grand Theatre, Maison de la Culture, Amiens
GenreJazz
Length74:34
LabelHat Hut Hat ART 2012
ProducerFiachra Trench
Mike Westbrook chronology
Love For Sale
(1985)		 On Duke's Birthday
(1985)		 The Ass
(1985)

On Duke's Birthday is a live album by the Mike Westbrook Orchestra performing a five song suite dedicated to the memory of Duke Ellington which was recorded in France in 1984 and released on the Hat Hut label in 1985.[1] The suite was commissioned by two festivals, Le Temps du Jazz and Jazz en France-Angouleme, to mark the 10th anniversary of the death of Ellington.[2]

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Penguin Guide to Jazz[3]
Allmusic[4]
All About Jazz[5]
The Guardian[6]

The Penguin Guide to Jazz identified the album as part of their suggested "Core Collection" of essential jazz albums.[3]

The Allmusic review by Thom Jurek stated "Ultimately, this is one of Westbrook's most accessible records, in that he leaves the vanguard completely out of the mix and moves instead toward opening up diatonic harmony to a set of colors and shades it perhaps hasn't encountered before, and the winner, of course, is the listener -- just take in the rave applause this band gets from the crowd. If you can only have one Mike Westbrook record, let it be this one".[4]

On All About Jazz Chris May called it "An enduring album of idiosyncratically conceived and brilliantly realized orchestral jazz".[5]

The Guardian's John Fordham rated the album 4 stars out of 5, saying, "Westbrook's catholic taste has made him more popular on the European continent than in his homeland, but this 1984 tribute to Duke Ellington not only confirms the depths of his jazz roots, but also how effectively he can evoke the spirits of his biggest heroes without mimicking them".[6]

Track listing

All compositions by Mike Westbrook

  1. "Checking in at Hotel Le Prieure" - 8:50
  2. "On Duke's Birthday 1" - 16:20
  3. "East Stratford Too-Doo" - 23:00
  4. "On Duke's Birthday 2" - 19:00
  5. "Music Is..." - 13:00

Personnel

References

  1. ↑ Mike Westbrook discography accessed October 27, 2014
  2. ↑ Nicholson, S., Mike Westbrook: England's Dreamer, JazzTimes, May 2005
  3. 1 2 Cook, Richard; Brian Morton (2008) [1992]. "Mike Westbrook". The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings (9th ed.). New York: Penguin. p. 1489. ISBN 978-0-141-03401-0.
  4. 1 2 Jurek, T., Allmusic Review, accessed October 27, 2014
  5. 1 2 May, C., All About Jazz Review, July 15, 2007
  6. 1 2 Fordham, John (12 October 2007). "Mike Westbrook, On Duke's Birthday". theguardian.com. Retrieved 27 October 2014.
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