Kenny Wheeler and Norma Winstone - Line By Line

While this expat Canadian octogenarian has also become an adoptive member of the Brit-Jazz aristocracy, it’s the release this month of his major vocal suite, Mirrors, on Edition Records, that seals an illustrious career as both trumpeter and composer. Peter Quinn traces the poetic origins of this 20-year old project and speaks to Wheeler, Norma Winstone, Pete Churchill and others who’ve given it new life today

The lifespan of a newly commissioned jazz work can often look something like this: composer receives commission (loud cheers); the work receives its premiere (even louder cheers); the work gathers dust on the composer’s shelf, never to be heard again (loud groans all round). I’m sure we can all cite our own examples.

Commissioned in the early 1990s by three Italian singers, Kenny Wheeler’s Mirrors could easily have featured on the ‘consigned to history’ list, known only to a handful of performers and those fortunate enough to have heard it live. Chatting to Wheeler in the kitchen of the Leytonstone home he’s shared with his wife, Doreen, for over 40 years, the Canadian expat reveals that the piece represented a completely new departure: uniquely, the words came first.

This is an extract from Jazzwise Issue #171 – to read the full article click here to subscribe and receive a FREE CD...