Mike Westbrook - The Piano In The Room And The Blues

2026

“I didn’t realise it at the time, but this recording, made in 2006, marked a change in my musical thinking. All the elements came together – my roots, the use of blues structures and the lifelong search for expression in music. I had unlimited time to think, to return again and again to a subject, to dig deeper into the blues.
Falmouth is a large town by the sea in Cornwall. This recording was made at Falmouth Arts Centre on the Steinway grand in the main gallery where my wife Kate had a show. The beautiful sound of the room, the Steinway itself, the footsteps, conversations, the echoes of the street outside were all part of the improvisation. So too were Kate’s paintings on the gallery walls. ‘Art Music’ in fact.” - Mike Westbrook

“To paint the same head over and over leads you to its unfamiliarity; eventually you get near the raw truth about it.” - Frank Auerbach