Azimuth -

Azimuth was a contemporary jazz trio featuring English pianist John Taylor and his vocalist wife Norma Winstone. Canadian trumpeter Kenny Wheeler rounded out the combo, which released five albums on EMC between 1977 and 1995.

Members: John Taylor (piano), Kenny Wheeler (trumpet), Norma Winstone (vocals)

Background

Norma Winstone came up on the London jazz circuit in the early 1960s after a scholarship to Trinity Music College. She first sang standards in East End pubs, then entered recorded work through Michael Garrick’s band near the close of the decade. From there she explored improvised and wordless singing and worked with British players such as John Surman, Mike Westbrook, Michael Gibbs, Kenny Wheeler, and John Taylor before Azimuth took shape.

John Taylor grew up in Manchester and taught himself piano. In 1964 he moved to London, where he built his early reputation through work with Alan Skidmore, John Surman, Harry Beckett, Graham Collier, and Michael Gibbs. In the early 1970s he backed singer Cleo Laine. Concurrently, he wrote for his own sextet and held regular work at Ronnie Scott’s, where his touch, voicing, and compositional sense placed him among the central British pianists of his generation.

Kenny Wheeler arrived from Toronto in 1952 and entered the London scene through bands led by Tommy Whittle, Tubby Hayes, and Ronnie Scott. By the late 1960s he established two parallel lines of work: one in post-bop trumpet and flugelhorn playing, the other in freer improvisation with figures such as John Stevens, Evan Parker, Dave Holland, and Derek Bailey. At the same time he developed a compositional language that drew on big-band writing, intervallic leaps, and modern classical procedure, a mix that later fed both his own records and Azimuth’s repertory.

Winstone and Taylor had already formed a duo by the mid-1970s and worked together in larger settings before Azimuth. Both also knew Wheeler well from earlier London collaborations. The decisive step came when Taylor sought a record deal for the duo and met ECM founder Manfred Eicher, who proposed a third voice and recommended Wheeler. That suggestion turned an established partnership into Azimuth.

Azimuth

Azimuth released their self-titled debut album on September 1, 1977, on ECM.

Taylor and Winstone wrote all six pieces. Taylor places piano figures and synthesizer ostinatos under Winstone’s close vocal line, while Wheeler answers with trumpet and flugelhorn phrases that widen the harmony and redirect the contour. The trio works through repetition, open intervals, and long spans of suspended motion. Winstone shifts between words and pure syllables, and the keyboard-horn pairing changes color through register, voicing, and attack.

“Sirens’ Song” rides a repeated cell with voice and brass set in relay over piano accents. “O” opens more air for Wheeler, whose replies extend Winstone’s line. “Azimuth” hangs overdubbed vocal figures over Taylor’s arpeggiated synthesizer pattern before Wheeler cuts a second line through the center. “The Tunnel” opens with piano alone, then folds lyric into a darker rhythmic bed and a mid-course harmonic shift. “Greek Triangle” strips the texture to brass, and “Jacob” closes with braided vocal and horn motion.

A1. “Sirens’ Song” (4:11)
A2. “O” (6:48)
A3. “Azimuth” (12:14)
B1. “The Tunnel” (9:14)
B2. “Greek Triangle” (2:04)
B3. “Jacob” (8:47)

Azimuth recorded Azimuth in March 1977 at Talent Studio in Oslo with producer Manfred Eicher and engineer Jan Erik Kongshaug.

The original sleeve paired Barbara Wojirsch’s layout with cover photography by Otl Aicher.

The Touchstone

Azimuth released The Touchstone on October 1, 1978, on ECM.

Taylor and Winstone again wrote all six pieces. Taylor shifts from piano to organ, which gives this album a thicker undercurrent and a warmer center for Wheeler’s muted and open-horn lines. Winstone stays close to the front of the mix, but the trio leaves more air between entries and leans harder on slow-breathing continuity than on pulse pattern. The result holds the same chamber scale with denser inner shading.

“Eulogy” opens on organ with Wheeler gliding above sustained harmony. “Silver” tightens the trio into a smaller chamber shape. “Mayday” breaks that calm with a more unsettled line and sharper solo detail. “Jero” places muted trumpet against Winstone’s wandering vocal figures, while “Prelude” draws the trio into a more continuous incantatory flow. “See” closes in broader scale and extends the album’s hushed pressure across its longest span.

A1. “Eulogy” (10:22)
A2. “Silver” (6:26)
A3. “Mayday” (5:27)
B1. “Jero” (6:18)
B2. “Prelude” (5:33)
B3. “See” (10:46)

Azimuth recorded The Touchstone in June 1978 at Talent Studio in Oslo with producer Manfred Eicher and engineer Jan Erik Kongshaug.

Barbara Wojirsch handled the cover design, and Dieter Rehm supplied the cover photograph. Rehm joined ECM in 1978 and brought a blurred, long-exposure image language that fits the sleeve surface.

Départ

Azimuth with Ralph Towner released Départ on October 1, 1980, on ECM. Ralph Towner joined John Taylor, Norma Winstone, and Kenny Wheeler on 12-string and classical guitar for the quartet session.

Taylor and Winstone wrote the program. Towner changes the group’s surface at once: his guitar adds a plucked lattice above Taylor’s piano and organ, while Wheeler threads flugelhorn and trumpet through Winstone’s close vocal line. The quartet holds Azimuth’s chamber scale, but the added strings give the harmony another edge and another resonance. Taylor also uses organ as a low pedal under several passages, which thickens the undercurrent without crowding the vocal-horn exchange.

“The Longest Day” opens with piano and 12-string set in light suspension before Wheeler enters with a long brass line. “Autumn” slows the album into a more static stretch, with Winstone hanging text above Towner’s near-pianistic fingerwork and Wheeler’s shorter cries. “Arrivée” tightens the attack and gives the solo lines a sharper cut. The four-part “Touching Points” suite breaks the sequence into brief studies that pass material between voice, guitar, piano, and brass. “Départ” settles over organ pedal tones, and “The Longest Day (Reprise)” closes with Taylor alone at the piano.

A1. “The Longest Day” (6:27)
A2. “Autumn” (11:09) — Taylor, Winstone
A3. “Arrivée” (7:50) — Taylor, Winstone
B1a. “From the Window” (1:08) — Taylor, Winstone
B1b. “Windfall” (4:32) — Taylor, Winstone
B1c. “The Rabbit” (2:34) — Taylor, Winstone
B1d. “Charcoal Traces” (4:32) — Taylor, Winstone
B2. “Départ” (10:28) — Taylor, Winstone
B3. “The Longest Day (Reprise)” (3:45) — Taylor, Winstone

Azimuth recorded Départ in December 1979 at Talent Studio in Oslo with producer Manfred Eicher and engineer Jan Erik Kongshaug.

Jürgen Peschel designed the sleeve. Volker Hilgert supplied the cover photograph, and Dag Alveng shot the liner photo.

Azimuth ’85

Azimuth released Azimuth ’85 on September 1, 1985, on ECM.

Taylor and Winstone wrote seven of the eight pieces, while Wheeler and Jane White supplied “Who Are You?” Taylor shifts between piano and organ again, but this album places the trio in a leaner, more exposed studio image than Départ. Winstone’s line often arrives in short speech-shaped phrases before opening into held tones, and Wheeler answers with trumpet or flugelhorn phrases that trace the lyric contour without thickening the texture. The group favors repeated figures, suspended harmonies, and slow internal change.

“Adios Iony” begins with parallel horn and vocal strands before Winstone narrows the line into spoken fragments. “Dream/Lost Song” pairs a softer vocal section with a piano-led continuation. “Who Are You?” places Wheeler near the front and gives the album one of its clearest lyric statements. “Breathtaking” lifts Winstone into a higher register, while “February Daze” sets repeated keyboard cells under the trio’s longest continuous build. “Til Bakeblikk” stretches that suspended pressure across nearly nine minutes. The two “Potion” pieces serve as short bookends for side two.

A1. “Adios Iony” (6:16) — Taylor, Winstone
A2. “Dream/Lost Song” (5:50) — Taylor, Winstone
A3. “Who Are You?” (3:35) — Wheeler, Jane White
A4. “Breathtaking” (6:52) — Taylor, Winstone

B1. “Potion 1” (2:12) — Taylor, Winstone
B2. “February Daze” (6:18) — Taylor, Winstone
B3. “Til Bakeblikk” (8:59) — Taylor, Winstone
B4. “Potion 2” (3:36) — Taylor, Winstone

Azimuth recorded Azimuth ’85 in March 1985 at Rainbow Studio in Oslo with producer Manfred Eicher and engineer Jan Erik Kongshaug.

Dieter Rehm designed the sleeve, and Christian Vogt supplied the cover photograph.

How It Was Then… Never Again

Azimuth released How It Was Then… Never Again on April 1, 1995, on ECM.

This final Azimuth album strips the instrumentation back to piano, voice, trumpet, and flugelhorn. Taylor leaves the organ aside and writes a drier harmonic field, which gives Wheeler more room to shape the line and leaves Winstone’s entries in sharper relief. The writing also opens beyond the Taylor-Winstone core: Wheeler and Winstone co-wrote two pieces, Irving Berlin appears with a standard, and Bobo Stenson contributes “Mindiatyr.” The result sounds less veiled than the earlier records and more linear in its piano-brass-vocal exchange.

“How It Was Then” opens with small repeated figures under a broad vocal arc. “Looking On” leaves more empty space between entries, while “Whirlpool” turns quicker and more circular. “Full Circle” carries Winstone into wordless territory. Wheeler stands at the front of “Stango” and overlays “How Deep Is the Ocean” with brass lines in close formation. “Mindiatyr” narrows the scale and holds the album in reflective suspension before “Wintersweet” returns to text and closes the sequence with an epilogue shape.

1. “How It Was Then” (7:42) — Wheeler, Winstone
2. “Looking On” (5:31) — Taylor, Winstone
3. “Whirlpool” (4:15) — Taylor
4. “Full Circle” (8:02) — Taylor
5. “How Deep Is the Ocean” (3:23) — Irving Berlin
6. “Stango” (4:13) — Taylor
7. “Mindiatyr” (5:59) — Bobo Stenson
8. “Wintersweet” (5:30) — Wheeler, Winstone

Azimuth recorded How It Was Then… Never Again in April 1994 at Rainbow Studio in Oslo with producer Manfred Eicher and engineer Jan Erik Kongshaug.

Barbara Wojirsch designed the cover. Roberto Masotti supplied the Azimuth photograph, and Jim Bengston shot the additional photos.

Discography: