The death is reported of pianist, composer and bandleader Mike Westbrook, aged 90. His manager, Peter Conway, today issued the following notice.
Mike Westbrook OBE, born 21 March 1936
It is with very great sadness that I announce the death of jazz composer, pianist and bandleader Mike Westbrook, who died peacefully at the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital yesterday 11 April.
He is survived by his wife, musical collaborator and muse Kate Westbrook and by his son Guy, daughter Joanna and his step-children Josie, Clio and Jason Barnard.
Mike’s huge importance for European jazz is summed up by German journalist and festival director Bert Noglik:
“Mike Westbrook has not only incorporated some of the best minds in jazz in the UK into his bands, he has also given European jazz its own sound. The way he has managed to absorb the very essence from the American pioneers, and then moved forward innovatively to reflect European culture from the perspective of a jazz-inspired musician is without parallel anywhere. His work, combining the best from the two worlds, has created one of its own. Here, music and art, sound and poetry, complement and sustain each other. In his inspirational collaboration with Kate Westbrook, works have been created that, for all their diversity and richness, represent what amounts to a genre. Just as Mike often took Duke’s Birthday as the opportunity to give concerts, it is in sincerest gratitude that we salute Mike Westbrook.”
Mike will be missed by us all. May he rest in peace.
A concert by Mike Westbrook’s Band of Bands was the subject of a JJ review as recently as December 2025, in which Barry Witherden described the music of the 89-year-old performer as “often intense and always riveting”.
