The lives and music of Kenny Wheeler, Norma Winstone (and of course John Taylor) remain so entwined that where the music begins, and the relationships evolve is barely distinguishable. Each contributed so seamlessly to the others’ art that at times they seem to sing with one voice, most notably with Azimuth. So, this project, with the lone surviving Winstone providing lyrics (along with Jane White) to Wheeler’s music, is as poignant as it is vivacious.

Like Kate Westbrook, Winstone seems magically composed of music; the voices of each luminously evoke past, present and future simultaneously mixing memory and desire. ‘Of Smiles Remembered’ is never maudlin even as it looks back; and is there a more sympathetic pianist to a vocalist than Nikki Isles? Stylistically she’s closer to John Taylor than Kit Downes on Winstone’s Outpost of Dreams, although that has glories all its own. Meanwhile Pursglove evokes Wheeler without impersonating him.

‘How it was Then’ is a gem: initially Winstone sings ‘out’ against broken piano chords and fluttered, tongued sax. The lyrics are as sharp as they are effulgent. And only Winstone could pose the paradox of rhyming trust with dust on ‘Things we Trust.’ Life, love, loss: few artists, Westbrook apart, inhabit these domains with such soul and integrity as Winstone.