I made my way back to Xerox Auditorium
to see British vocalist Norma Winstone, who offered up a set of
musically intricate pieces; her performance was one of the more
sophisticated I’d seen at Jazz Fest. Her voice is reminiscent of Joni
Mitchell, and her first tune supported the comparison. It was
lyrically driven and focused heavily on Winstone’s raspy melodies.
The whole affair was composed and reserved — making it starkly
different from other festival performances.
The most interesting component of
Winstone’s set was undoubtedly the non-lyric vocal play. Between
lyrics, she sang a combination of nonsense syllables, glottal sounds,
and stop-plosives. Each line weaved deliberately between the melodic
lines played by her trio-mates on piano and bass clarinet. The
resulting sound was something tribal and ethereal, quite haunting,
and strikingly beautiful.
Though quite
lovely, Winstone’s music is clearly a divergence from the Jazz Fest
norm. This was made apparent by the way audience members seemed
unable to take in a full song without entering or leaving Xerox
Auditorium. Again, I found this to be incredibly distracting. The
festival’s many tent venues and outdoor stages clearly lend
themselves to a more social environment. If that’s what you’re
looking for, see a show there.
This article appears in Jun 25 – Jul 1, 2014.
