Martha Shepherd, who directed the video below, was spotted by the Westbrooks when we published a contribution by her in an earlier issue of this magazine. The video features Kate Westbrook and The Granite Band. Here is their press release:
"THE GRANITE BAND
Kate Westbrook voice Roz Harding saxophones Jesse Molins guitar Matthew North guitar Billie Bottle bass guitar/voice Mike Westbrook piano Coach York drums Produced by Jay Auborn
Hard on the heels of their "epic and ground-breaking" Granite project, Kate and the Granite Band with producer Jay Auborn are back with a major new album. Recorded in summer 2019 in the depths of the Devon countryside and mixed and mastered at dBs studios Bristol, Earth Felt the Wound deploys state-of-the-art recording to stunning effect and takes Kate and The Granite Band in a radically new direction.
Earth Felt the Wound – its title a quote from Milton's Paradise Lost – is an album of extremes, from the intimate to the epic, from the tenderness of the Rossini ballad "Once Upon a Time" to the rock histrionics of "Drowned in the Flood". It opens with with one of Westbrooks' most lyrical songs "The Streams of Lovely Lucienne" and closes with the exuberant comedy of "Rooster Rabelais". Elsewhere Kate's lyrics examine the contemporary issues of climate change and threats to the planet. The song at the heart of the album, "Storm Petrel", takes its title from the tiny seabird that spends its life on the ocean, while beneath its dancing feet sea levels are rising.
Kate's collaboration with Mike began with their jazz cabaret Mama Chicago, which won the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Award in 1978. There has followed a succession of music-theatre pieces, settings of European poetry, operas and original song cycles. Kate's lyrics are often a response to contemporary social, cultural and environmental issues. A notable example is The Serpent Hit, a Political Fable, recorded in 2013 and produced by the late Jon Hiseman. "Granite", a composition inspired by her love of Dartmoor and its granite quarries, was recorded in 2018 and was her first collaboration with Jay Auborn. To perform it she brought together the group of highly individualistic, open-minded and "rock solid" musicians who make up The Granite Band."
Here, meanwhile, is the video. It's called "Threat of Natural Disaster".
The CD can be purchased from https://www.westbrookjazz.co.uk/katewestbrook/eftw_CD.shtml.
The page has a link to Bandcamp, where a download can be purchased.
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