Friday 09 June 2023
“The Peacocks.... and other stories!..”
Norma has written lyrics for many of the songs she has in her repertoire.
“A Timeless Place” is probably her most famous lyric to the instrumental “The Peacocks” by Jimmy Rowles and has been recorded by many singers including Cecile McLorin-Salvant.
Tonight’s performance will contain a selection of pieces from this repertoire, and she is joined by two close musical friends, Nikki Iles, piano and Mark Lockheart, saxophones.
Norma Winstone (voice), Nikki Iles (piano) and Mark Lockheart (saxophones):
“Finding kindred spirits that lead you on...” is a quote from Nikki Iles which describes the musical empathy of this trio.
The group is a small ‘offshoot’ of The Printmakers… they share a love of risk taking, improvisation and above all harmony and melody.
Mark is a most sensitive and lyrical player who has won many awards too numerous to include here. He seems to relate to words, which for Norma is a wonderful gift. He was a member of Loose Tubes, Perfect Houseplants, Seb Rochford’s Polar Bear, amongst many others. He has also worked with June Tabor and was a featured soloist in compositions by Mark Anthony Turnage. He has written for many projects such as his reworking of Duke Ellington’s music which resulted in the recording “Ellington in Anticipation”.
Nikki goes from strength to strength as a pianist and composer. She was recently made Composer in Residence with the wonderful NDR Big Band in Hamburg and writes extensively for her English big band, and her group The Printmakers. She does a lot of educational work for which she was recently awarded the British Empire Medal. Nikki and Norma have a special musical relationship built over many years and both share a particular love of English music.
Norma has a long relationship with the music of Kenny Wheeler and John Taylor and their recordings as Azimuth on ECM in the 1970s and 80s were groundbreaking. She has been at the forefront of vocal jazz for many years and recorded four albums for ECM with her European trio (one of which was nominated for a Grammy). She was awarded an MBE in 2007.
All three always look forward to any opportunity to get together and make music.
“One of the Glories of contemporary Jazz” – Jazz Journal
“Right now, she is at the peak of her form… there is no jazz singer in the country to touch her” - Alyn Shipton, The Times, London
“Norma Winstone’s instrument: an unfettered intelligence spinning tales with language…or without” – Thomas Conrad, Down Beat Magazine
“Her spare, subtle and intelligent approach to improvisation, jazz standards, impressionistic tone poetry like a vocal Jan Garbarek and the uncovering of overlooked songs that deserve to be classics, put her in the forefront of European singers” - John Fordham, The Guardian
“It is unlikely that there is a better jazz singer than Miss Winstone. She has none of the histrionics which mar so much of the work of her contemporaries, and one is left with tasteful ideas, expressed in pure musical form” – Steve Voce, Jersey Evening Post
“.. a superb example of state-of-the-art, imaginative, virtually beyond-definition singing” – Don Heckman, Los Angeles Times
Awards and Fellowships
2001 - Won the title of Best Vocalist in the BBC Jazz Awards hosted by Humphrey Lyttleton at London’s Queen Elizabeth Hall.
2007 - Awarded an MBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List.
2008 - Won the Prix du Jazz Vocal in France for her ECM album ‘Distances’.
2009 -Awarded the Skoda Jazz Ahead Award in Bremen for her contribution to European Jazz.
2010 - Lifetime Achievement Jazz Medal from the Worshipful Company of Musicians.
2013 - Honorary Member of the Royal Academy of Music
2015 - Parliamentary Jazz Award for Best Vocalist
Gold Badge of Merit from British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors
2017 - Jazz FM Award for Vocalist of the year
2021 - Parliamentary Jazz Award for services to Jazz
2022 - Jazz FM Lifetime Achievement Award
Video: (“Ladies in Mercedes”): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BkZFrAS2X8U
Koncert miesiąca w Jazz Cafe POSK!
Norma napisała teksty do wielu piosenek, które ma w swoim repertuarze.„A Timeless Place” to prawdopodobnie jej najsłynniejszy tekst do instrumentalnego utworu „The Peacocks” Jimmy'ego Rowlesa, który został nagrany przez wielu wokalistów, w tym Cecile McLorin-Salvant.Dzisiejszy występ będzie zawierał wybór utworów z tego repertuaru, a towarzyszy jej dwóch bliskich muzycznych przyjaciół, Nikki Iles (fortepian) i Mark Lockheart (saksofon).
„W tej chwili jest u szczytu swojej formy… nie ma w kraju wokalistki jazzowej, która mogła by jej dorównać - Alyn Shipton, The Times, Londyn
W 2007 roku Norma Winstone została odznaczona orderem MBE na liście odznaczeń z okazji urodzin królowej.
