Customer Reviews

Distances

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Coolly spare and warmly evocative at the same time. An effective reminder that fine artists can communicate volumes with simple means at a whispered volume. I am no fan of deconstruction of classics simply for the sake of deconstruction, but here we have the perfect mix of respect for the source material and personalized inventiveness. Hypnotic; demanding attention without overtly demanding it. Musical string theory: little universes where time seems to stop. Lovely and literate.

This is a most unusual jazz vocal album, and a very fine one. We've grown used to exceptional sound production from Manfred Eicher's ECM label but it bears noting that without the separation of the sounds of the three musicians, so that we can listen to them individually as well as collectively, and without the pristine clarity of the sound production over all, this record would be much less of a triumph.

Winstone plus piano and reed --bass clarinet and soprano saxophone-- three musicians-- create an album of exquisite music that is half jazz and half classical art song, and all joy. Winstone's vibrato-less contralto(?) voice blends perfectly with her partners. She improvises and, for the most part, they play what has been put in front of them -- or at least that's how it seems on listening. The result is fresh and exulting, controlled but liberating. The best songs are the original ones. The first song --"Distances"-- is revelatory, absolutely wonderful.

The least successful songs? There is a remake of the ballad, "Everytime We Say Goodbye," that is almost banal. It definitely drags in tempo, but even this song is miles above most contemporary jazz singing in its overall quality. Later on in the album, a mock calypso song really doesn't work: Winstone's voice and tonality don't enhance the song and for one moment she almost sounds amateurish. But I don't care! This is the best vocal album I've heard since early Cassandra Wilson. The musicians on it are professionals. It has to be one of their finest moments.

Unsurprisingly, this ECM gem was the highest rated vocal jazz c.d. of 2008 by "Down Beat" magazine.

Surprisingly, it was nominated for a Grammy. Unsurprisingly, it did not win.

Surprisingly, all 10 cuts on this c.d. have the instrumentation of Ms. Winstone, the British singer; Glauco Venier, the Italian pianist; and Klaus Gesing, the German reedist (alternating between bass clarinet and soprano saxophone).

Unsurprisingly, as a result this c.d. sounds quite neo-classical. It sounds in a way, by design, like a musical grad student's chamber music composition doctoral thesis.

But the biggeest surprise: it's much more than that. Norma Winstone sings with a lot of depth, and brings life to pieces which, in lesser musical hands, would sound like museum pieces.

The one standard is a very fractitious, pointillistic rendition of Porter's "Every Time We Say Goodbye." Most of the rest are originals ("Giant's Gentle Stride" is supposedly inspired by Coltrane's "Giant Steps." The tune is modal, but it sounds more like Wayne Shorter's "Footprints.")

"Drifter" goes beyond exposition, and becomes a sad tome. Likewise "The Mermaid." The Satie variation, "Ciant da la Ciampanis," resonates with hope. Likewise, the title track. And the set-ender, "A Song for England," is easily the most charming piece of the set.

This c.d. will grow on you. I recommend you listen to it at least 10 times. The experience is worth it. Its intelligence commands careful listening. RC

I couldn't find any fault with this recording. It is some jazz at its best.
I am not a musician so I am not able to critique it technically as some might but I have been listening to jazz for forty years. It is a winner.

This is an impeccable disc. Intelligent, grown up music at its best. There is not really much more than that to say.

Sometimes I worry about the number of ECM CDs in my collection - that I will someday wake up to find that my wardrobe is full of black pullovers, and that, without noticing, I have wandered into a singularity of bourgeois 'tastefulness'. But then something like this comes along, and I can stick my emergency plan for bulk acquisition of AC/DC albums back on the shelf. Manfred Eicher may have a bit of a weakness for up-market dinner party music (and I imagine he has an exquisite dining room), but his taste is a lot more hit than miss.

Really strongly recommended.

I first heard Norma sing on NPR. Afterwards, I immediately got on Amazon and bought this CD. It's melancholy and sad. The more I listen to it the better it gets. If you like the blues, buy it!

Distances is hauntingly beautiful jazz in a melancholy mode. Norma Winstone's voice is a powerful instrument, and the accompaniment is striking. Those who listen to his album will not forget it.