Outpost of Dreams

British vocalist and lyricist Norma Winstone possesses a lissome, agile, and expressive alto, full of airy spaces, distinctly original phrasing, and moody textures. Winstone is a fine interpreter of lyrics and composed melody -- a plain-speaking, rhythmically direct singer who effectively gets to the heart of the matter. She broke out during the 1960s, collaborating with Michael Garrick, Mike Westbrook, and Neil Ardley. Edge of Time, her 1972 solo debut, won acclaim internationally. Between 1977 and 1994, she cut seven albums with trio Azimuth (alongside John Taylor and Kenny Wheeler) and worked with Ralph Towner and Tony Coe. She returned to the classic jazz repertoire in the '90s -- 1995's Well Kept Secret with Jimmy Rowles is a fine example. In the 21st century, Winstone recorded It's Later Than You Think with the NDR Big Band, and 2008's Distances with a trio that included Glauco Venier and Klaus Gesing. This group joined her on 2014's Dance Without Answer, and 2018's award-winning Descansado: Songs for Films. In 2022, she released The Soundless Dark with pianist Will Bartlett, and in 2024, Winstone and pianist Kit Downes teamed up for Outpost of Dreams.

Born Norma Ann Short in East London, her family moved to Essex when she was ten. Winstone played piano and organ in her youth. She began singing semi-professionally at age 17, influenced by conventional and classic jazz vocalists. During the '60s she became attracted to the jazz avant-garde. She played in groups led by pianists Michael Garrick, Neil Ardley, Joe Harriot and Amancio D'Silva, and Mike Westbrook; she also sang with such forward-thinking musicians as saxophonist John Surman, flügelhornist Kenny Wheeler, composer Michael Gibbs, and pianist John Taylor (whom she married in 1972 and collaborated with even after they divorced years later).

A late-'60s gig at Ronnie Scott's club in London with the legendary multi-instrumentalist Roland Kirk garnered her critical notice in the music weeklies. In 1971 she was named best jazz singer in a poll by the British publication Melody Maker. That year, she recorded her first album as leader, Edge of Time, on the Decca label. Winstone formed Azimuth with Wheeler and Taylor, a critically acclaimed contemporary chamber jazz group that recorded several times on the ECM label starting in the mid-'70s. Winstone is also an accomplished lyricist, having written words to music composed by guitarists Egberto Gismonti and Ralph Towner, bassist Steve Swallow, and vocalist Ivan Lins, among others. In 1987 she made her ECM leader debut titled Somewhere Called Home.

Winstone also performed and/or recorded in ensembles with Jimmy Rowles, Lee Konitz, Tony Coe, Fred Hersch, John Abercrombie, Dave Holland, Peter Erskine, and George Mraz. In 1992, she collaborated with composer/arranger Steve Gray in the creation of "A French Folk Song Suite," commissioned and performed by the North German Radio big band. She is also a member of Wheeler's big band. In July 2002 she was awarded the title of Best Vocalist at the BBC Jazz Awards at London's Queen Elizabeth Hall. That same year, she released the album Chamber Music with pianist Glauco Venier and saxophonist Klaus Gesing. The following year, she collaborated with American director/composer John Cameron on the soundtrack for Psychomania.

Winstone returned in 2006 with Amoroso... Only More So fronting the Stan Tracey trio and made her first recorded appearance with Germany's NDR Big Band titled It's Later Than You Think. Winstone collaborated with Venier and Gesing for two more albums, including 2008's Distances and 2010's Stories Yet to Tell. In 2013 Winstone delivered Mirrors with longtime collaborator Wheeler. The trio album Dance Without Answer, featuring Venier and Gesing, appeared on ECM in 2014, and they toured the U.K. and Europe.

In 2018, Winstone released one of her most ambitious projects. Descansado: Songs for Films on ECM offered rearranged versions -- by Gesing and Venier -- of music by cinema composers including Nino Rota, Michel Legrand, Bernard Herrmann, and Ennio Morricone, and some tracks contained new lyrics by Winstone. Gesing and Venier returned for this project, augmented by Norwegian percussionist Helge Andreas Norbakken and Italian classical cellist Mario Brunello.

Many of Winstone's early recorded appearances during the '60s were remastered, remixed, and released by various labels. In 2022, she and pianist/composer Will Bartlett issued The Soundless Dark. It included music by the pianist and words by British poet Philip Larkin (who hated jazz) sung by Winstone. Two years later she returned to ECM in collaboration with pianist/composer Kit Downes on Outpost of Dreams. It set her lyrics to compositions by the pianist, as well vocals to songs by Carla Bley, Towner, and Taylor. It also included jazz readings of two iconic folk songs, "Black Is the Colour" and "Rowing Home." ~ Chris Kelsey & Thom Jurek

Kit Downes is a British jazz and classical composer, organist and pianist, known for a clean playing style no matter the setting. His compositions lean heavily on polychromatic investigation and timbral discipline. He also plays cello. He began his career as a founding member of the jazz group Troyka, and is a first-call sideman. He led a jazz piano trio for 2009's Mercury Prize-nominated Quiet Tiger. 2013's Light from Old Stars crisscrossed modern jazz, vintage blues, and global rhythms. His 2018 ECM debut Obsidian, showcased his skills on church pipe organs in original compositions, folk songs, and improvisations. In 2021 he released two classical duet outings: Premonitions of the Unbuilt City with pianist and composer Matt Rogers, and Subaerial with cellist Lucy Raiton. Downes issued the piano trio offering Vermillion for ECM in March 2022. In January 2023, Downes joined drummer/composer Sebastian "Seb" Rochford for the duo offering A Short Diary on the label. That year he played organ with New Zealand-based saxophonist Hayden Chisolm, backing Balkan womens' chorus PJEV in a church. He returned to ECM in duet with vocal icon Norma Winstone on Outpost of Dreams in 2024. In September, he played pipe organ with guitarist Bill Frisell and drummer Andrew Cyrille on the trio set, Breaking the Shell.

Downes is a formally trained musician. He attended Norwich School, the Purcell School, and the Royal Academy of Music. His first recorded appearances were as a guest with Empirical on their self-titled debut in 2007. Produced by Courtney Pine, it was named jazz album of the year by Jazzwise and Mojo. In 2008, Downes was the winner of the BBC Jazz Award in the category of Rising Star. Troyka, a flexible trio with guitarist Chris Montague and drummer Joshua Blackmore, was founded that same year and cut their initial self-titled date for Edition in 2009. Downes also recorded a duo album with saxophonist Tom Cauley for Impure, and released his first trio date as a leader (with bassist Calum Gourlay and drummer James Maddren, with whom he had been playing since their school days at the Royal Academy in 2005). Entitled Golden, it was shortlisted for Great Britain's Mercury Prize. He followed it with Quiet Tiger, which augmented his trio with a cellist and a saxophonist. In 2012, he co-led the Neon quartet with Sulzmann, issuing the album Subjekt on Edition. Troyka's sophomore outing Moxxy appeared as well. 2013 was prolific: Downes issued two solo piano EPs -- both in digital-format only, a pair of leader dates including Light from Old Stars with a quintet on Basho, and Live at the 2013 Cheltenham Jazz Festival with the 18-piece Troykestra. He also played on Nostalgia '77's Journey Too Far. Over the next year, he toured festivals as well as playing regular gigs in London, and performed in concert with a number of other outfits. In 2015, they resumed recording. Troyka's Ornithophobia was acclaimed by the British press as one of the best jazz outings of the year. Downes also made his first appearance on ECM as a member of Thomas Stronen's band for Time Is a Blind Guide. In 2017, Downes and saxophonist Tom Challenger released Vyamanikal, a duo improvisational album cut in various churches around England the previous year.

That set was a precursor to his ECM leader debut, Obsidian. Performing (mostly) solo on various pipe organs in November of 2016, Downes recorded originals, folk songs, and improvisations in two churches in Suffolk and the Union Chapel in London. Challenger guested on the track "Modern Gods." It was released in January 2018. A follow-up, Dreamlife of Debris, arrived on the label in 2019 and found Downes playing both piano and church organ. The album again featured Challenger, as well as guitarist Stian Westerhus, cellist Lucy Railton, and drummer Seb Rochford.

In 2021, Downes and Raiton teamed up for the duet offering Subaerial on SN Variations, while the pianist released another duet offering in Premonitions of the Unbuilt City with pianist and composer Matt Rogers independently. For 2022's Vermillion, Downes assembled a trio with Swedish bassist and composer Petter Eldh and English drummer James Maddren. The set included five tunes each by the pianist and bassist, and a cover of Jimi Hendrix's "Castles Made of Sand."

In January 2023, Downes joined friend, drummer, and composer Seb Rochford for the duo offering A Short Diary (ECM). Rochford described it as "a sonic memory, created with love, out of need for comfort," and dedicated it to his family, in particular to the memory of his father, Aberdeen poet Gerard Rochford. Later that year, the album Medna Roso on Red Hook Records. Recorded in St Agnes Church, in Cologne, Downes played church organ alongside New Zealand-born, Belgrade-based saxophonist and multi-instrumentalist, Hayden Chisolm. They backed Balkan acapella womans vocal quintet, PJEV.

In July of 2024, Downes played piano in collaboration with British jazz vocalist / lyricist Norma Winstone to release Outpost of Dreams on ECM. They composed three originals together, cut two traditional folk songs, and recorded tunes by Carla Bley, Ralph Towner, and John Taylor, with new lyrics by Winstone. In September, the album Breaking the Shell, featuring a pipe organ trio with guitarist Bill Frisell and drummer Andrew Cyrille was issued by Red Hook Records. The album was recorded and improvised over two days at St. Luke in the Fields, New York; it was engineered by Joseph Branciforte, mixed by Alex Bonney, and mastered by Taylor Deupree. ~ Thom Jurek