Norma Winstone was born in London and first attracted attention in the late sixties when she shared the bill at Ronnie Scott's club with Roland Kirk. Although she began her career singing jazz standards, she became involved in the avant garde movement, exploring the use of the voice in an experimental way and evolving her own wordless approach to improvisation. She joined groups led by Mike Westbrook, Michael Garrick and sang with John Surman, Kenny Wheeler, Michael Gibbs and John Taylor, and worked extensively with many of the major European names and visiting Americans.

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 Disconforme label.

She continues in the forefront of British jazz and was nominated again in the 2007 BBC Jazz Awards for best vocalist as well as being awarded an MBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List in the same year. A new recording “It’s Later than You Think”, with the marvellous North German Radio big band directed by British writer Colin Towns, was released in Autumn 2006 to coincide with a British tour.

She was one of the stars of the acclaimed Gilles Peterson “Jazz Britannia” programme shown on BBC two, from The Barbican which featured influential music of British jazz musicians from the sixties and seventies, along with contemporary jazz artists.

A double CD “Amoroso…only more so”, with The Stan Tracey trio and saxophonist Bobby Wellins has come out on the Trio label to some five star reviews…….
“This is standards-reinvention as it should be done.” John Fordham, The Guardian.
“Winstone’s voice and Wellins’s highly vocalised tenor seem made for each other…. Sheer class.” Ray Comiskey, The Irish Times.

She continues in the forefront of British jazz and was nominated again in the 2007 BBC Jazz Awards for best vocalist as well as being awarded an MBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List in the same year. Her current group with Italian pianist Glauco Venier and German saxophonist Klaus Gesing was formed seven years ago and released their first CD “Chamber Music” on the Universal label in 2002. "Distances", the group's latest album for producer Manfred Eicher’s ECM label was released in Spring 2008 to critical acclaim, meriting four and a half stars in Down Beat magazine. It was voted top vocal CD in 2008 for the Academie du Jazz in Paris and Norma was nominated for a Grammy in 2009 for the CD. She will also be the recipient of the 2009 Skoda Award for contributions to European Jazz, which will be presented at the Jazz Ahead meeting in April.

www.normawinstone.com

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