Norma Ann Winstone MBE (born 23 September 1941) is an English jazz singer and lyricist. With a career spanning more than 50 years, she is best known for her wordless improvisations. Musicians with whom she has worked include
Michael Garrick
Michael Garrick MBE (30 May 1933 – 11 November 2011)Peter VacheObituary: Michael Garrick '' The Guardian'', 15 November 2011 was an English jazz pianist and composer, and a pioneer in mixing jazz with poetry recitations and in the use of ja ...
Mike Westbrook
Michael John David Westbrook (born 21 March 1936) is an English jazz pianist, composer, and writer of orchestrated jazz pieces. He is married to the vocalist, librettist and painter Kate Westbrook.
Early work
Mike Westbrook was born in High ...
, as well as pianist
John Taylor John Taylor, Johnny Taylor or similar may refer to:
Academics
*John Taylor (Oxford), Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University, 1486–1487
*John Taylor (classical scholar) (1704–1766), English classical scholar
*John Taylor (English publisher) (178 ...
East London
East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth.
Etymology
As in other languages, the word is formed from the f ...
, England, she was 10 years old when her family moved to
Dagenham
Dagenham () is a town in East London, England, within the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham. Dagenham is centred east of Charing Cross.
It was historically a rural parish in the Becontree Hundred of Essex, stretching from Hainault Forest ...
Barking and Dagenham Post
The ''Barking & Dagenham Post'' is a weekly local newspaper in the area of the London Borough of Barking & Dagenham. It is published by Archant.
The paper was originally called the ''Dagenham Post'', and some older residents of its distribution ...
''. Encouraged by her primary school teacher, she applied for and won a scholarship to attend Saturday-school at
Trinity Music College
Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance is a music and dance conservatoire based in London, England. It was formed in 2005 as a merger of two older institutions – Trinity College of Music and Laban Dance Centre. The conservatoire has ...
, and after passing her
11-plus exams
The eleven-plus (11+) is a standardized examination administered to some students in England and Northern Ireland in their last year of primary education, which governs admission to grammar schools and other secondary schools which use academic ...
Winstone began singing in bands around Dagenham in the early 1960s, and has said of her early experiences: "I've always been on the edge, always felt like I was swimming against the tide and somehow couldn't stop. I met a pianist called Chris Goody and we'd get together and play things. He knew
Margaret Busby
Margaret Yvonne Busby, , Hon. FRSL (born 1944), also known as Nana Akua Ackon, is a Ghanaian-born publisher, editor, writer and broadcaster, resident in the UK. She was Britain's youngest and first black female book publisherJazzmine Breary"Let' ...
who was in a publishing company called Alison and Busby. She also wrote lyrics for tunes like ' Naima'. I was inspired by her, though I didn't write words myself at that time, I didn't think I could." Winstone first attracted attention when in the late 1960s she appeared at Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club sharing the bill with Roland Kirk. Interviewed in 2020, she said: "I went along to a gig at the Charlie Chester Club and I sat in with a drummer called John Stevens and he was incredibly enthusiastic and jumped up and said, 'I'm going to tell Ronnie Scott about you, he should give you an audition!' ... Eventually, I went to the club, and after reminding Ronnie that eight months before he promised to invite me for an audition, we got it and he gave me four weeks there opposite Roland Kirk. I think I was on cloud nine...." This led to her first radio BBC broadcast, which by chance was heard by singer Carmen McRae on a visit from the US, who met Winstone and was interviewed for a jazz magazine with her.
Winstone joined
Michael Garrick
Michael Garrick MBE (30 May 1933 – 11 November 2011)Peter VacheObituary: Michael Garrick '' The Guardian'', 15 November 2011 was an English jazz pianist and composer, and a pioneer in mixing jazz with poetry recitations and in the use of ja ...
's band in 1968. Her first recording came the following year, with Joe Harriott and Amancio D'Silva, on ''Hum-Dono'' (reissued in 2015). In 1971 she was voted top singer in the ''
Melody Maker
''Melody Maker'' was a British weekly music magazine, one of the world's earliest music weeklies; according to its publisher, IPC Media, the earliest. It was founded in 1926, largely as a magazine for dance band musicians, by Leicester-born ...
'' Jazz Poll. She recorded the album ''Edge of Time'' under her own name in 1972. Winstone contributed vocals to Ian Carr's Nucleus on that band's 1973 release ''Labyrinth'', a jazz-rock
concept album
A concept album is an album whose tracks hold a larger purpose or meaning collectively than they do individually. This is typically achieved through a single central narrative or theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, or lyrical. Som ...
based on the Greek myth about the
Minotaur
In Greek mythology, the Minotaur ( , ;. grc, ; in Latin as ''Minotaurus'' ) is a mythical creature portrayed during classical antiquity with the head and tail of a bull and the body of a man or, as described by Roman poet Ovid, a being "pa ...
.
Winstone has worked with many major European musicians and visiting Americans, as well as with most of her peers in British jazz, including Garrick, John Surman, Michael Gibbs,
Mike Westbrook
Michael John David Westbrook (born 21 March 1936) is an English jazz pianist, composer, and writer of orchestrated jazz pieces. He is married to the vocalist, librettist and painter Kate Westbrook.
Early work
Mike Westbrook was born in High ...
and her former husband, the pianist
John Taylor John Taylor, Johnny Taylor or similar may refer to:
Academics
*John Taylor (Oxford), Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University, 1486–1487
*John Taylor (classical scholar) (1704–1766), English classical scholar
*John Taylor (English publisher) (178 ...
. With Taylor and trumpeter Kenny Wheeler she performed and recorded three albums for
ECM
ECM may refer to:
Economics and commerce
* Engineering change management
* Equity capital markets
* Error correction model, an econometric model
* European Common Market
Mathematics
* Elliptic curve method
* European Congress of Mathematics
...
as a member of the trio Azimuth between 1977 and 1980; their fifth and last album ''How It Was Then… Never Again'' (1995) was given four stars by ''
DownBeat
' (styled in all caps) is an American music magazine devoted to "jazz, blues and beyond", the last word indicating its expansion beyond the jazz realm which it covered exclusively in previous years. The publication was established in 1934 in Chi ...
'' magazine.
Her own 1987 album ''Somewhere Called Home'', also released on the ECM label, has often been called "a classic". The review by AllMusic said: "It's not only a watermark of Winstone's career but, in the long line of modern vocal outings released since the romantic vocal tradition of Fitzgerald and Vaughan ended with free jazz and fusion, the disc stands out as one most original yet idyllic of vocal jazz recordings. ... A must for fans looking for something as cozy as a golden age chanteuse, but without all the gymnastic scatting and carbon copy ways of many a contemporary jazz singer." In addition, she made albums with the American pianists Jimmy Rowles – ''Well Kept Secret'', recorded in 1993 – and
Fred Hersch
Fred Hersch (born October 21, 1955) is an American jazz pianist, educator and HIV/AIDS activist. He was the first person to play weeklong engagements as a solo pianist at the Village Vanguard in New York City. He has recorded more than 70 of his ...
. On ''Well Kept Secret'' Winstone sang lyrics she had written to Rowles' composition "The Peacocks", which she had heard on the
Bill Evans
William John Evans (August 16, 1929 – September 15, 1980) was an American jazz pianist and composer who worked primarily as the leader of his trio. His use of impressionist harmony, interpretation of traditional jazz repertoire, block ch ...
album '' You Must Believe in Spring'' (1981). With the title "A Timeless Place", Winstone's lyrics were subsequently recorded by others, including Mark Murphy. Well respected as a lyricist, she has also written words to tunes by Ralph Towner, Egberto Gismonti, Ivan Lins, Steve Swallow, and other musicians.
In 2001, Winstone was honoured as "Best Vocalist" in the BBC Jazz Awards, also being nominated in 2007 and 2008.
In February 2018, Winstone released ''Descansado: Songs for Films'', a collection that AllMusic described as "an unusual and provocative album".
In 2019, Enodoc Records released the CD ''In Concert'', a remastered recording of an August 1988 performance by Winstone and her ex-husband John Taylor at London's Guildhall School of Music and Drama, including music by
Leonard Bernstein
Leonard Bernstein ( ; August 25, 1918 – October 14, 1990) was an American conductor, composer, pianist, music educator, author, and humanitarian. Considered to be one of the most important conductors of his time, he was the first America ...
, Steve Swallow, Egberto Gismonti, Ralph Towner and
Dave Brubeck
David Warren Brubeck (; December 6, 1920 – December 5, 2012) was an American jazz pianist and composer. Often regarded as a foremost exponent of cool jazz, Brubeck's work is characterized by unusual time signatures and superimposing contrasti ...
, among others, with lyrics by Winstone herself,
Johnny Mercer
John Herndon Mercer (November 18, 1909 – June 25, 1976) was an American lyricist, songwriter, and singer, as well as a record label executive who co-founded Capitol Records with music industry businessmen Buddy DeSylva and Glenn E. Wallich ...
and
Margaret Busby
Margaret Yvonne Busby, , Hon. FRSL (born 1944), also known as Nana Akua Ackon, is a Ghanaian-born publisher, editor, writer and broadcaster, resident in the UK. She was Britain's youngest and first black female book publisherJazzmine Breary"Let' ...
. Awarding four stars to this collaboration between Winstone and Taylor, Roger Farbey of '' All About Jazz'' wrote: "What ''In Concert'' demonstrates above all else is the extraordinarily synergistic relationship that this virtuosic pair shared."
Personal life
In 1972, Winstone married pianist John Taylor, whom she had met in 1966; they divorced after some years, although they later continued their musical partnership. Their two sons, Alex and Leo, are both musicians.
Awards and honours
* 1971: voted top singer in the ''
Melody Maker
''Melody Maker'' was a British weekly music magazine, one of the world's earliest music weeklies; according to its publisher, IPC Media, the earliest. It was founded in 1926, largely as a magazine for dance band musicians, by Leicester-born ...
'' Jazz Poll
* 2001: "Best Vocalist" in BBC Jazz Awards
* 2007: MBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours
* 2009: Skoda Jazz Ahead Award in
Bremen
Bremen (Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (german: Stadtgemeinde Bremen, ), is the capital of the German state Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (''Freie Hansestadt Bremen''), a two-city-state consis ...
Trinity Laban Conservatoire
Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance is a music and dance conservatoire based in London, England. It was formed in 2005 as a merger of two older institutions – Trinity College of Music and Laban Dance Centre. The conservatoire has ...
* 2013: Honorary Member of the
Royal Academy of Music
The Royal Academy of Music (RAM) in London, England, is the oldest conservatoire in the UK, founded in 1822 by John Fane and Nicolas-Charles Bochsa. It received its royal charter in 1830 from King George IV with the support of the first Duke of ...
* 2015: Jazz Vocalist of the Year,
Parliamentary Jazz Awards
The Parliamentary Jazz Awards in the United Kingdom are organised by the All Party Parliamentary Jazz Appreciation Group (APPJAG) at the Houses of Parliament in London. The group consists of over a hundred members drawn from across the UK politica ...
* ''Edge of Time'' (Argo, 1972)
* ''Live at Roncella Jonica'', with Kenny Wheeler (Izemz/Polis, 1985)
* ''Somewhere Called Home'' (ECM, 1987)
* ''M.A.P.'', with John Wolfe Brennan (L+R, 1990)
* ''Far to Go'' (Grappa, 1993)
* ''Well Kept Secret'' (Hot House, 1995)
* ''Siren's Song'', with Kenny Wheeler (Justin Time, 1997)
* ''Manhattan in the Rain'' (Sunnyside, 1998)
* ''Like Song, Like Weather'', with John Taylor (Koch, 1999)
* ''Songs & Lullabies'', with Fred Hersch (Sunnyside, 2003)
* ''Chamber Music'' (EmArcy, 2003)
* ''It's Later Than You Think'' with the NDR Big Band (Provocateur, 2006)
* ''Children of Time'', with Michael Garrick (Jazz Academy, 2006)
* ''Amoroso... ..Only More So'', with Stan Tracey (Trio, 2007)
* ''Distances'' (ECM, 2008)
* ''Yet Another Spring'', with Michael Garrick (Jazz Academy, 2009)
* ''Stories Yet to Tell'' (ECM, 2010)
* ''Mirrors'' with Kenny Wheeler (Edition, 2013)
* ''Dance Without Answer'' (ECM, 2014)
* ''Descansado: Songs for Films'' (ECM, 2018)
* ''In Concert'', with John Taylor, 1988 (Enodoc Records, 2019)
With Azimuth
* '' Azimuth'' (
ECM
ECM may refer to:
Economics and commerce
* Engineering change management
* Equity capital markets
* Error correction model, an econometric model
* European Common Market
Mathematics
* Elliptic curve method
* European Congress of Mathematics
...
Départ
''Départ'' is an album by British jazz trio Azimuth, whose members were vocalist Norma Winstone, pianist John Taylor, and trumpeter Kenny Wheeler. It was recorded in December 1979 at Talent Studios in Oslo, and was released in 1980 by ECM. On t ...
Azimuth '85
''Azimuth '85'' is the fourth and next-to-last album by British jazz trio Azimuth featuring trumpeter Kenny Wheeler, vocalist Norma Winstone, and pianist John Taylor recorded in 1985 and released on the ECM label.How It Was Then... Never Again'' (ECM, 1995)
Song for Someone
"Song for Someone" is a song by Irish rock band U2. It is the fourth track from their thirteenth studio album, ''Songs of Innocence'', and was released as its third single on 11 May 2015. It was produced by Ryan Tedder and Flood. Lyrically, "So ...