Outpost of Dreams
is the debut collaboration from vocalist/lyricist
Norma Winstone
and pianist/composer
Kit Downes
. Both are veteran
ECM
recordings artists.
Winstone
hasn't issued a title with the label since 2018's award-winning
Descansado: Songs for Films
, while
Downes
, active more recently, released
Short Diary
with
Seb Roachford
in 2023. This duo began playing shows together late in 2023 and continued into 2024.
, a seven-decade veteran, has been the talk of Europe since
Drake
sampled
Azimuth
's (
Kenny Wheeler
and
John Taylor
) "The Tunnel" for "IDGAF." Among this set's ten tunes are four originals by
; her lyric contributions extend here to songs by
Taylor
,
Carla Bley
Ralph Towner
, and fiddler/composer
Aidan O'Rourke
. There are also two folk standards, "Black Is the Color" and "Rowing Home."
At this stage of her seven-decade career,
is winning accolades for her writing as much as her supple singing -- her alto instrument is undiminished by time. In opener "El,"
weaves impressionistic, mysterious chords in the upper-middle register as
wanders with purpose inside and outside his cadences: "Stardust in the night will watch her grow/Soon become aware (constellations stare)/Everything that lives and breathes and loves filling the air¿" "Fly the Wind," by
, is sprightly; it sounds like a show tune in the singer's phrasing, but
' pianism is rooted in modern jazz.
's lyrics for
Bley
's "Jesus Maria" embrace its mutated two-chord theme and reflect an unknowable Christ figure as he inhabits and transcends time. Her words for
Towner
's iconic "Beneath an Evening Sky" chart the depth and strangeness of a woman's perpetual presence in the protagonist's wandering, solitary mind. Single "The Steppe" weds classical, jazz, and classic pop as a song of love and longing, offering: "Winds sweep across the plain/Where will I find you again/The path of a shooting star/The heart dare not follow/I'm lost in the vastness of you¿I'm almost submerging/In this lonely outpost of dreams."
flows, circles, and swings around and through her delivery. There are few substandard versions of "Black Is the Color." This one, with
' ghostly, wandering pianism, first excavates, then all but conceals the melody as
delivers this as a tool of discovery: in certain phrases, she pays tribute to
Nina Simone
's stellar recording.
is masterful; he never intrudes on
's expression yet establishes the piano as a separate lyric voice. The closing traditional sea shanty "Rowing Home" is almost unrecognizable.
creates darkly tinged post-bop harmonics under the melody as
improvises inside the words and phrases while changing the tune's shape with her vocalizing. Usually sung by fishermen returning home, this version comes from a bereft protagonist, and it is as poignant as it is resonant.
is a quiet, gentle, even tenderly poetic masterpiece that represents music-making as an organic yet adventurous hub of meaning. ~ Thom Jurek