Norma Winstone, Kit Downes: Outpost Of Dreams

Any release by Norma Winstone is an event and Outpost Of Dreams, her much anticipated first album since 2018's Descansado (Songs For Films) (ECM), rises to expectations. It presents her in a new duo setting with pianist Kit Downes, a star in his own right who is equally on point as an accompanist. His sensitive, empathetic playing here is a delight in itself.

Outpost Of Dreams was recorded in Italy in 2023 with ECM's Manfred Eicher producing. Eicher and Winstone have been more than fruitful collaborators since 1977 and Azimuth, the debut album by the Azimuth trio comprising Winstone, pianist John Taylor and trumpeter Kenny Wheeler.

Winstone is an adept lyricist as well as a profoundly connective singer and Outpost Of Dreams plays to both strengths. The album features new compositions by Downes ("El," "The Steppe," "Nocturne," "In Search Of Sleep") together with covers of material by John Taylor ("Fly The Wind"), Carla Bley ("Jesus Maria"), Ralph Towner ("Beneath An Evening Sky") and Adrian O'Rourke ("Out Of The Dancing Sea"). Winstone sings her own lyrics for each. There are also two traditional songs, "Black Is The Colour" and "Rowing Home." Winstone's emphasis on each track is on the lyrics and she barely embarks on the wordless solos that are features of some of her work.

Winstone is such a poetic lyricist that the "meaning" of her words is hard to nail down. Hence, perhaps, the title of the album. There are times when one can imagine she is addressing John Taylor, to whom she was once married, and others where the implicit focus of the lyrics is more universal. But such is the nature of Winstone's voice that most of the songs seem personal, even if their precise subject matter remains elusive.

The urge to decode the songs is, however, hard to resist and will be an enjoyable aspect of what one anticipates to be multiple returns to the album.