Artist Profile, Norma Winstone, First Lady of British Jazz

“Travelling forever in the dark/Darkness into blackness/There and back, it's always black.” These are the cryptic words from ‘The Tunnel’, which first appear before a thunderous jumpscare of trap beats and auto-tuned rap suddenly hijacks the soundstage. What’s so mystifying about this hidden treasure is the soft and breezy nature of the singer’s voice, which, at times, sounds as if it's eminating from a world of its own. There is a certain instrumental quality to this lurid melody; when Kenny Wheeler’s brassy counterpoint begins to intermingle, one no longer hears just a singer and her accompanist, but two integral performers. That caressing voice belongs to Norma Winstone, grande dame of British jazz and a key figure in the last half-century of artistic innovation across the genre. From her early years as a pioneer amidst the underground jazz scene to her more recent endeavours as a recipient of numerous accolades and awards, Winstone possesses a raw skill as distinctive as Miles Davis’ trumpet embouchure or Bill Evans’ zen-like sensitivity for the keyboard. She is best known, perhaps, for her intuitive employment of a unique wordless vocal style (think, ‘musical vowels’) along with the warm English accent she implements through her serene interpretations of lyricists that range from Ira Gershwin to Lewis Carroll.

Always the first port of call in contemporary jazz, Winstone’s talents were routinely credited on a host of ambiguous and experimental new releases over the coming decade, with appearances on records by Joe Harriott, Mike Westbrook and, of course, Edge of Time (1972) – her groundbreaking solo debut. But it was as one third of Azimuth, the group formed by ECM label-founder Manfred Eicher which featured her former-husband John Taylor along with frequent colleague Kenny Wheeler, that she began to appreciate her individual sound as an artist for the first time. Perhaps it was owing to the label’s visionary production techniques, inspired by an intrepid philosophy of silence and space, that Norma’s creative output began to adopt a more introspective approach than the rousing cacophony her previous work and collaborations had felt. Her own music since then, whilst taking on different forms, has always maintained a signature brand of cool-headed mellowness, be it in the form of Nikki Iles’ Printmakers or her final collaboration with Wheeler and the London Vocal Project on Mirrors (2013). Norma Winstone continues to trailblaze to this day as a performer, lyricist and teacher. What's more, if her recent attainment is anything to go by then there are still plenty years of thoughtful innovation yet to come.