The Westbrook Band had a long abd distinguished run, defying labels like ‘jazz’ along the way (as did Mike W’s musical hero Duke Ellington) with their forays into other musical traditions. The move back to a big band swing drummer like Buddy Rich is an interesting one! Mike Osborne was a true original alto saxophone player. I have recordings but never saw him live unfortunately as was abroad a lot when he was in his brief prime before early death. But seen the Westbrooks Mike and Kate here and there. Always felt it would have been interesting for Mike W to dig deeper into uk traditions. His settings of Blake were sublime: ‘Bright As Fire’ for. example. He recorded an interesting setting of a John Clare poem, ‘The Toper’s Rant,’ sung by Phil Minton in a raw, powerful version which indicated a path never followed unfortunately. I’ve looked for a YouTube version and there are a couple but the sound is rough as a robber’s dog, to slip into local patois… This was from ‘The Cortege’ (1982) which included a variety of texts set from the Europe and the UK: Garcia Lorca, Rimbaud, Clare, Herman Hesse, Blake and beyond.