Norma Ann Winstone MBE (born 23 September 1941) is an English jazz singer and lyricist. In a career spanning more than 50 years she is best known for her wordless improvisations although she is equally at home with the standards repertoire, performing with small groups, orchestras and big bands.
Born as Norma Short in Bow, East London, she began singing inbands around Dagenham in the early 1960s, before joining Michael Garrick's band in 1968. Her first recording came a year later with Joe Harriott.
In 1971 she was voted top singer in the Melody Maker Jazz Poll and subsequently recorded her own album ‘Edge of Time‘for Decca, which although long deleted has now been re-released as a CD on the Dusk Fire label. Winstone contributed vocals to Ian Carr's Nucleus on that band's 1973 release Labyrinth, a jazz-rock concept album based on the Greek myth about the Minotaur.
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 and Mike Westbrook. In the late seventies she joined her former husband , the pianist John Taylor and trumpeter Kenny Wheeler to form the group Azimuth, which was described by Richard Williams of The Times as “one of the most imaginatively conceived and delicately balanced of all contemporary chamber jazz groups“.
In this setting she combines the instrumental use of the voice with words, most of which she writes herself. Azimuth has recorded several albums on the ECM label (the first three of which have been re-issued as a CD boxed set).Their CD ‘How It Was Then… Never Again‘ was released in May 1995, and received four stars in Down Beat magazine.
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Her own legendary album ‘Somewhere Called Home‘ on the ECM label is widely considered to be a classic.In addition, she made albums with the American pianists Jimmy Rowles (Well Kept Secret, 1993) and Fred Hersch.
In recent years she has become known as a very fine lyricist, writing words to compositions by Ralph Towner, and Brazilian composers Egberto Gismonti and Ivan Lins (who has recorded her English lyrics to his song ‘Vieste‘). She has a special affinity with the music of Steve Swallow, and has written lyrics to many of his compositions, most notably ‘Ladies in Mercedes‘, which has become a standard.
Her voice has become an important part of the sound of Kenny Wheeler’s big band, and can be heard in this context on the ECM double CD ‘Music for Large and Small Ensembles‘ which also features John Abercrombie, Dave Holland, Peter Erskine and John Taylor.
Her CD ‘Well Kept Secret‘, recorded with the legendary American pianist Jimmy Rowles, featuring George Mraz on bass and Joe La Barbera on drums, was given a four star rating in Down Beat magazine. Here Norma sings a selection of rare jazz standards, including Jimmy’s famous tune ‘The Peacocks’ for which she wrote lyrics and re-titled ‘A Timeless Place‘.Her CD ‘Manhattan In The Rain‘, with pianist Steve Gray, bassist Chris Laurence and special guest saxophonist Tony Coe consists of unusual and classic standards, described by Dave Gelly in The Observer as “A delectable set of songs… masterly and enthralling“.
In recent years Norma has become known as a very fine lyricist, writing words to compositions by Ralph Towner, and Brazilian composers Egberto Gismonti and Ivan Lins (who has recorded her English lyrics to his song Vieste). She has a special affinity with the music of Steve Swallow, and has written lyrics to many of his compositions, most notably Ladies in Mercedes, which has become a standard. Her voice has become an important part of the sound of Kenny Wheeler’s Big Band, and can be heard in this context on the ECM double CD Music for Large and Small Ensembles which also features John Abercrombie, Dave Holland, Peter Erskine and John Taylor.
She continues in the forefront of British jazz and was nominated again in the 2007 and 2008 BBC Jazz Awards for best vocalist. She was awarded an MBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List in 2007. In 2009 she was awarded the Skoda Jazz Ahead Award in Bremen for her contribution to European jazz.
In February 2018, Winstone released Descansado: Songs for Films, a collection that AllMusic described as "an unusual and provocative album". As for this year Norma is working on a new album project in collaboration with Steve Swallow. (Edited from Wikipedia, Royal Academy of Music & normawinstone.com)