Paintbox Jane - Raoul Dufy Paints a Portrait Mike Westbrook & Kate Westbrook

• 1 Nice Boulevard 05:32
• 2 Brigitte Bardot 02:18
• 3 Languid Travellers 10:16
• 4 Commotion 02:13
• 5 Jane Jane 07:42
• 6 Sound of Caress 10:31
• 7 Flesh and Bone 03:06
• 8 Languid Travellers (Reprise) 00:51
• 9 Figment Pigment 05:13
• 10 Who Does What to Whom? 05:47
• 11 Dufy Paints Mingus Plays Gaudy Bar 06:48
• 12 Star Collapse 01:32
• 13 Art Perching on a Music Stave 09:39
• 14 Harbour's Dark Water 03:14
• 15 Dufy Night 02:37
• Total Runtime 01:17:19

Info for Paintbox Jane - Raoul Dufy Paints a Portrait

Westbrook & Company presents jazz cabaret Paintbox Jane, inspired by the painter Raoul Dufy, the jazz score is composed by legendary British jazz pianist/composer Mike Westbrook (winner of 2022 Parliamentary Jazz Awards for Services to Jazz) and with book lyrics by Kate Westbrook.

Tim Goodwin plays Raoul Dufy, with Kate Westbrook, Martine Waltier and Billie Bottle on vocals, Alan Wakeman on saxophone, Marcus Vergette on bass and Mike Westbrook on piano.

On the Promenade des Anglais in Nice, Raoul Dufy paints a portrait of his muse, Jane. A troupe of singers and instrumentalists conduct a lively exchange with the painter about the meaning of art, his place in art history, posterity, plagiarism, about his friendship with Henri Matisse. The dialogue continues in song and repartee until the sun goes down on the sea wall and night envelopes the sensual world of Monsieur Dufy. Paintbox Jane was premiered in March 2016 at the Arts Club Vout-OReenees in London.

Over the next couple of years the show toured jazz clubs and studio theatres. The album was recorded by the late Jon Hiseman in his Temple Music Studios in May 2017. It has now been mixed and mastered by Ru Lemer. Since winning the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Award in the late 1970s with their jazz cabaret 'Mama Chicago', composer Mike and vocalist/ librettist Kate have generated a succession of music theatre pieces.

“No one has succeeded in creating a more distinctive body of work than Mike and Kate Westbrook. Their mixture of jazz, music-theatre, poetry, street entertainment and visuals is rich and unique.” (Dave Gelly, The Observer)

Westbrook & Company

Billie Bottle
has a background in circus, theatre and rock, and recently sang the role of the young angel in Paul Joyce’s ‘Celestial’. Billie’s band The Multiple is both innovative and political and, with Martine, their album The Other Place is now available.

Tim Goodwin
stand-up comedian, TV presenter, Shakespearean actor, has toured widely in the U.K. and Europe. Tim creates the role of Raoul Dufy in the Westbrooks’ Paintbox Jane bringing to the character of the painter much tenderness and humour.

Marcus Vergette
musician, bell-maker, sculptor, was born on the banks of the Mississippi river in Southern Illinois. He is a bass player renowned for his Mingus-influenced prowess and for his recent composition The Marsyas Suite inspired by the Titian painting.

Alan Wakeman
is a saxophonist of world-wide standing. Al was for sometime in the legendary band Soft Machine and he has played and recorded with Mike, with Stan Tracey, David Essex and with John Dankworth. He has a rare understanding of the role jazz can play in music-theatre, always relating to the text.

Martine Waltier
is a Londoner of American and Maltese parentage. She is steeped in opera, jazz, choral music and the urban beat. Martine is a featured soloist in Mike’s Uncommon Orchestra. With Billie’s band The Multiple, she writes, performs and records.

Kate Westbrook
singer, lyricist and artist, has made many albums, worked in TV, radio and film. In addition to her work with Mike, her long career has spanned singing the role of Anna in The Brecht/Weill Seven Deadly Sins with the LSO, to Michael Finnissy’s The Transgressive Gospel, to Berlin cabaret.

Mike Westbrook
composer and pianist is the most illustrious member of Westbrook & Company. He has received many honours and his outpouring of work in a career stretching over 50 years, ranges from scores for full orchestra to solo piano improvisation. With Kate in Paintbox Jane he creates a piece which reflects his passion for art and for theatre.

This album contains no booklet.