Norma Winstone/Klaus Gesing/Clauco Venier: Dance Without Answer

Fearless, flawless UK vocalist Norma Winstone continues to grow into her new trio with Italian pianist Glauco Venier and German saxophonist Klaus Gesing. Her haunting lyrics perfectly match the elegiac, bittersweet harmonies of Gesing and Venier, creating a music that belongs as much to the tradition of classical German lieder as it does to jazz. But if the atmosphere is rarefied, there's nothing stuck-up about the repertoire: as well as half a dozen well-crafted originals there are songs by Nick Drake, Tom Waits and Madonna; a reading of Kermit the Frog's hit Bein' Green; and a buoyant version of Dave Grusin's MOR behemoth It Might Be You. To each of them, Winstone gives the sort of meticulous, open-hearted attention that characterises all her singing. propermusic.com CORMAC LARKIN