AS a boy I always loved the familial, old-worldly sound of the accordion, and when my brother-in-law bought one to while away his national service time at Catterick Camp, he brought it home and its bellows seemed to give it lungs like a human.

The first and rare time I heard it in a jazz context was when I bought a Duke Ellington LP with vintage tunes like the 1929 Accordion Joe, in which Ellington’s arrangement of the accordion’s quasi-fairground sound fitted into his orchestra brilliantly.

So when I heard the new Mike Westbrook Band of Bands’ album with accordion virtuoso Karen Street an integral part of the Westbrook sound, I loved it, and wanted to know more about her life in music.

Born in 1959 in Burton on Trent, her parents were teachers, with her maternal grandmother “a very good pianist who played by ear.” Her brother played accordion (a colleague of her dad ran an accordion school), “and I kept trying to play it too, so Mum thought I should have lessons. I learned clarinet at school and at 15, Dad, who liked Oscar Peterson and big band music, bought me a saxophone as I wanted to play in a local music centre jazz band. 

“Looking back at some old accordion music I used to play, I now realise it was quite jazz-oriented, so from a young age I was playing quite advanced jazz harmony without knowing it.

“After university at Bath and Wales I moved to London. I played sax in Don Rendell’s education big band and listened to a lot of jazz funk — Weather Report, The Brecker Brothers and the amazing John Serry, whose father was an accordion player.”

I ask her how playing with Westbrook had affected her. “Mike has been an enormous influence on me. When I joined his Big Band Rossini I was suddenly thrown in amongst the most amazing jazz players. As for the Band of Bands, Mike was interested in using the accordion as a front-line instrument, blending with the two saxes. 

“I don't know if anyone else has done this — it’s a unique sound and it isn’t obvious there’s an accordion there. Ellington used the accordion (played by Hungarian Cornell Smelser) as part of the rhythm section as well as playing melody, which is what Mike does a lot in Band of Bands.”

What about her bandmates?

“Drummer Coach York is solid as a rock, generous and unflappable; bassist Marcus Vergette is mischievous, bringing lots of joy to the bandstand and saxophonist Chris Biscoe plays outstanding solos — where do they come from? 

“Fellow saxophonist Pete Whyman has amazing technicality and emotional depth, and as a singer and lyricist Kate Westbrook is utterly unique, as well as a warm and generous friend.”

She loves accompanying Kate: “Many of her songs are theatrical-like in delivery, so there’s often lots of space. Having listened to her voice for so long, I feel I can follow what she's about to do with a song.

“As for Mike, he is a true bandleader; inspiring, clever and he never stops writing music to challenge us. His catalogue is so diverse, he never sticks to one genre. This is his strength. His music is timeless. When you hear his compositions from the ’60s onwards they could have been written today, they sound so fresh even though they’re rooted in the jazz tradition.”

Her favourite track on the album is Mike and Kate's composition Gas, Dust, Stone: “It has a simple but powerful driving rhythm — the subjects they create are always meaningful. It’s about the end of our world, with the idea of hanging a 19th century fairground alongside the world wide web — modern technology in the form of a fairground attraction. It’s a blues for the planet — when the ride is broken, nature is defeated and just gas, dust and stone remain.”

It’s what the Westbrooks write: parables of our time in the most original sonic settings, and it’s what Karen Street loves to play with her ever-surprising yet erstwhile sound.

“Jazz is inclusive of many different backgrounds and cultures and can go a small way to heal divisions. Like music in general, it can take us to a different place, finding us beauty and solace.”

Band of Bands is released by Westbrook Records.