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Artist: Norma Winstone - Kit Downes
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Norma Winstone - Kit Downes:

Outpost of Dreams

Her first ECM recording in six years finds Norma Winstone in a new duo with pianist Kit Downes. A unique artist as both jazz vocalist and lyricist, here Norma brings her poetic sensibilities to new pieces by Downes as well as compositions by Carla Bley, Ralph Towner, and John Taylor. The programme is completed with fresh perspectives on two traditional tunes, “Black Is The Colour” and “Rowing Home.” The duo, Norma says, was “a chance thing”, a musical unit formed almost accidentally. Winstone’s regular pianist for work in Britain, Nikki Iles, was unavailable for a gig in London, “so I booked Kit. I’d never played with him before. And of course, he could play everything immediately, and amazingly. So we did a few more concerts, and I found I responded to the sense of adventure in his playing. You never know quite what is going to happen, and I love that quality.” When London Jazz News collected a round-up of greetings for Norma’s 80th birthday, she recalls, Downes wrote: “Can’t wait to jump off musical cliffs together again in the near future.” She laughs: “That’s the way we both think of it. We’ll see where the project takes us. “