Norma Winstone’s Stories Yet to Tell

Her band-members are Italian and German. Her repertoire includes traditional Friulan songs and Armenian lullabies. Yet, she is arguably the preeminent British jazz vocalist of our time, even honored with an MBE (Member of the British Empire) by the Queen. Still, if anything defines Norma Winstone it is the unalloyed artistry she brings to vocal interpretations, which can be heard to striking effect on her latest CD, Stories Yet to Tell.

Reuniting with pianist Glauco Venier and multi-reed player Klaus Gesing, her collaborators on Winstone’s Grammy nominated Distances, Stories has a similar overall spirit, yet it consistently yields up many fresh surprises. Theirs is an elegant, often delicate music perfectly represented by the opening track “Just Sometimes,” a spare ballad of regret and longing, setting Winstone’s original lyrics to the music of popular Mexican composer Armando Manzanero. Indeed, her delivery is strikingly dramatic, conveying a lifetime’s worth of experience in just over six minutes.

While always intimate, the mood shifts greatly with Tigran Mansurian’s arrangement of fellow Armenian composer Komitas’ “Cradle Song (Hoy Nazan),” featuring Winstone’s original lyrics derived from Christina Rosetti’s nursery rhymes. With Venier setting a gently insistent rhythm on the piano and Gesing’s eloquent bass clarinet accompaniment, it is a warm and inviting session highlight. The bittersweet vibe then returns in spades with Dori Caymmi and Alan & Marilyn Bergman’s “Like a Lover.” It is a perfect vehicle for Winstone’s exquisitely sensitive voice, again demonstrating the trio’s uncanny empathy.

Perhaps the greatest revelation of Stories is Winstone’s expanding role as a lyricist, penning words for eight of the CD’s twelve songs. Easily the most evocative is “The Titles,” a melancholy ode to cinema and those who love it, that ought to become a standard in its own right (recommendation to vocalists: check this one out).

Yet, on two of the session’s other hands-down standout tracks, Winstone proves she can make a statement without lyrics. Her voice harmonizes beautifully with Gesing’s soprano saxophone throughout Venier’s surprisingly jaunty arrangement of the traditional “Lipe Rosiže.” Likewise, Winstone’s wordless vocalizing expresses an audibly ecstatic joy throughout the pianist’s adaptation of Friulan classical-folk composer Giorgio Mainerio’s “Ballo furlano.”

Winstone is a true vocal artist, yet her relatively youthful trio-mates are perfectly in-synch with her throughout Stories (and their previous release Distances, as well). It is a subtle work that slowly seduces listeners with its grace. Highly recommended, especially for connoisseurs of intelligent vocal music, Stories is now available from ECM records.

(Photo: Glauco Comoretto / ECM Records)

Norma Winstone at Joe’s Pub

Something about Norma Winstone seemed perfect for Joe’s Pub, the club connected to Joseph Papp’s Public Theater. In concert last night, she was warm and expressive delivering lyrics, but also witty and charming between songs, commanding the attention of what looked to be a full house with her stage presence.

Accompanying Winstone were her current working group of Klaus Gesing on bass clarinet (and sometimes soprano) with Glauco Venier on piano, heard together on Winstone’s latest release, Distances. Their musical and personal rapport came through clearly on-stage, as when both Winstone and Gesing volunteered their enthusiastic appreciation for the music of the Alpine region of Italy, which inspired some of Venier’s compositions.

As would be expected, much of the first set was drawn from Distances. Instead of sounding rote or perfunctory, Winstone’s songs rang like audio gems, polished to near perfection. Their renditions were not note-for-note from the session tapes though. The percussive introduction to “The Mermaid” seemed longer and more pronounced, giving the piece a slightly more upbeat vibe. On the other hand, their take on the Cole Porter standard “Every Time We Say Goodbye” might have been even more dramatically austere than their recorded version. For an encore, Winstone returned with Peter Gabriel’s “Here Comes the Flood,” performed in much the same spirit as on the album, but proving a perfect vehicle for her nuanced in-the-moment vocal interpretation.

Maybe a third of Winstone’s selections were drawn from outside of Distances, but most still sounded quite compatible to the new release in style and tone. The closest to an exception was a nice change-of-pace duet for Winstone and Gesing that was downright bluesy.

Distances is quite a disk. Over a week after posting the review, I still find myself revisiting it, which does not often happen, even with very good albums. Usually after days of intense listening, one is ready to move onto something new. There is just something elegantly compelling about Winstone’s voice that entices repeated listening. A British subject honored for her contributions to the arts, Winstone does not often tour America, so future opportunities to hear her in an intimate performance, like at Joe’s Pub, should not be passed up.

Distances from England

Distances
By Norma Winstone
ECM Records 2028

When Norma Winstone performs at Joe’s Pub next Thursday, it will be an opportunity to hear another European jazz artist who does not frequently perform in America. It will also be a pretty rare opportunity to hear a member of the Order of the British Empire in performance, since the MBE was bestowed on Winstone last year (when most of the Queen's Honours recipients were overshadowed by the Rushdie knighthood). Preceding Norma Winstone MBE to American shores, her latest CD, Distances, is itself an intimate listening experience.

The almost title track “Distance” establishes the dreamy mood right from the start through Winstone’s breathy vocals and the eerie accompaniment of Klaus Gesing on bass clarinet and Glauco Venier on piano. Winstone’s lyrics reinforce the sense of existential mystery, speaking of “weightless wanderers” “turning in heights of invisible air” above “a city of unfathomed streets below.”

Many of Winstone’s songs read like prose poems, but she also includes one standard and a pop cover. She wrings all the regret imaginable out of Cole Porter’s “Every Time We Say Goodbye,” underscored by Gesing’s plaintive soprano. A Peter Gabriel song again proves to be a surprisingly hospitable vehicle for reinvention in a jazz context. “Here Comes the Flood” is a beautiful example of Winstone’s subtle but dramatic vocal interpretation and the sympathetic support of Gesing and Venier.

Winstone’s band-mates are more than just hired accompanists. They really sound like a cohesive unit together, with the conceptions of each shaping the music of Distances. Gesing and Venier both penned music for two originals, and the three collaborated on a spontaneous composition. Venier’s “The Mermaid” probably exhibits the most buoyant jazz solo of the session provided by the composer, egged on by Gesing’s bass clarinet. While a bit at odds with Winstone’s mournful lyrics, it makes for an appealing interlude in her tale. Gesing also should get credit just for taking a soprano saxophone anywhere near “Giant’s Gentle Stride,” their reworking of Coltrane’s “Giant Steps” and he actually solos quite eloquently.

Distances concludes with “A Song for England,” the trio’s impromptu calypso setting of an Andrew Salkey poem, which ascribes the neurosis of the English to their depressing weather. Simultaneously humorous and triumphant, it is a pitch-perfect post-modern national anthem. One could easily envision it running over the end titles of future British films to express both irony and affection.

Distances has a deceptively sparse atmosphere, from which many exciting musical moments unfold. It is an intriguing session that stays in your head long after listening. It is definitely a recommended CD, some songs of which are likely to be interpreted live by Winstone’s group, during two sets at Joe’s Pub on June 26th.