Described in the Independent on Sunday as ‘perhaps the greatest work in all British jazz’, Mike Westbrook’s settings of William Blake’s powerful poetry were originally commissioned in 1971 for the National Theatre production of Adrian Mitchell’s Tyger. The Westbrook Blake, with vocalists Phil Minton and Kate Westbrook, has been performed many times over the years in Blake’s city, London, as well as in Festivals throughout Europe, in New York and Australia. The current choral version is featured on a new DVD/CD Glad Day Live, released on Westbrook Records.

William Blake was born in Soho in 1757. A poet and artist regarded in his lifetime as eccentric and politically dangerous, Blake is now acknowledged as one of the great visionaries in British Art whose work resonates strongly in the 21st Century.

‘Westbrook’s jazz roots are clear; and Blake’s images burn as bright as fire.’ Gramophone

‘Mike Westbrook makes full use of his two striking vocalists, Kate Westbrook and Phil Minton. He finds music to match the ecstasy of ‘I See Thy Form’, the desolation of ‘London Song’, turns ‘A Poison Tree’ into a blood-curdling tango, and fashions a magnificent anthem for ‘Let The Slave/The Price of Experience’, Blake’s great paeans to freedom, dignity and compassion.’ The Wire