Dave Holland, Norma Winstone, London Vocal Project, Vital Spark (Music of Kenny Wheeler) Review

Lines in Motion: The Layered Ensemble Design of Vital Spark

by Ferell Aubre

Vital Spark (Music of Kenny Wheeler) brings together bassist Dave Holland, lead vocalist Norma Winstone, and the London Vocal Project in a setting shaped as much by ensemble design as by song interpretation. With Holland joined by pianist Nikki Iles, saxophonist Mark Lockheart, drummer James Maddren, and guitarist John Parricelli, appearing on select tracks, alongside choral direction and arrangements by Pete Churchill, the album unfolds through a design in which choir, voice, and instrumental ensemble function as distinct, continuously interacting lines.

From the outset, that design is easy to hear. “Inner Traces” opens with Iles at the piano, laying down a soft, pastel figure, spacious, lightly pulsed, and quietly memorable. Winstone enters over it with a focused and engaging tone as she navigates the wide intervals. Then the choir arrives with long-held “ah” tones that widen the harmony.  Even before Holland and Maddren step in, the music is already layered, with the piano setting the color and pulse, Winstone expressively shaping the melodic arc, and the choir holding a separate harmonic field behind her.

As the piece develops, nothing drops out to make space. Instead, the sound grows by addition. Holland and Maddren settle underneath the existing texture; Iles becomes more rhythmically active; the surface thickens, but the earlier parts remain clearly in place.

Holland’s solo makes his musical approach especially clear. He stays in a lyrical, singing expression on the bass, shaping phrases with slides and light articulation rather than attack. Supporting him, the choir holds long tones, and Iles answers with soft arpeggios. The solo steps forward into the harmonic space, moving inside the sonic field.

When Lockheart enters, the frame widens again. For a moment, it leans toward a quartet sound of saxophone with piano, bass, and drums. Churchill quickly reopens the choral layer as Lockheart builds patiently with warm tone, upper-register figures, then quicker descending lines. Maddren adds motion across the kit, the choir shifts from sustained tones into words, and the texture gathers weight. Even at full stretch, the lines remain distinct. The saxophone, choir, and rhythm section move together as a single expression.

Pete Churchill’s choir writing puts the London Vocal Project as a key element in reshaping the music from within. Churchill treats the choir as a moving part of the structure.

At times, the choir settles into sustained “ahs” and “oohs,” creating a stable harmonic ground. Elsewhere, it answers Winstone directly, as in the “at my side” exchanges in “Inner Traces,” where the response gives the phrase contour. In other passages, Churchill splits the voices, men and women moving along separate lines, so the texture thickens without blurring. You can hear each strand as it threads through the others.

Later, when the choir takes on full lyrics, its role shifts again. Moving from supporting harmony to an active voice in the ensemble. The redistributing of musical weight fluidly moves between pad, response, counterline, and tex. The result is that the choir continually shapes the space it fills.

Winstone remains fixed  in a lead position. Her role shifts depending on how the arrangement opens around her.

In “Inner Traces,” she begins as the clear melodic voice, shaping those wide intervals with an even, centered tone. As the texture thickens, she folds into it, becoming one line among several rather than a single focal point. In “Will You Walk a Little Faster?”, that shift becomes more pronounced. Over Holland’s syncopated bass figure and Maddren’s straight-eighth groove, she moves into scatting with lighter, more flexible playing between chord tones and brighter extensions as she climbs through her range.

At the same time, the choir holds its written parts, and Lockheart threads a separate line alongside her. The three strands of scat vocal, choral writing, and saxophone stay distinct. You can follow each one without strain. As the section develops, Winstone moves again, rejoining the ensemble as part of a denser web of counterpoint rather than sitting above it.

The album’s shape comes from how Holland, Iles, and Maddren handle time and harmony. Holland often anchors the structure. In “Will You Walk a Little Faster?” his syncopated line locks in the straight-eighth feel and drives the track forward. In “Heavenly City,” he begins in a two-feel, leaving space between notes and keeping the groove open; when he shifts into walking time later on, the whole texture settles and deepens.

Iles moves just as fluidly in her playing, which is light and pastel, and can push forward with more rhythmic insistence when needed. In “Fuite D’Enfance,” when she takes her solo after Parricelli, the band eases back around her. Maddren reduces the density, Holland opens the line, and Iles builds gradually, her right hand layering gentle polyrhythms over the trio.

Maddren’s contribution is often understated but decisive. He can keep the kit open and airy, or add motion across the toms, or settle into a clear ride pattern when the music needs weight. Each shift changes how much room the other lines have to move.

The solos stand out, but what’s striking is how rarely they are isolated. Lockheart, Parricelli, Holland, and Iles all play within textures that stay alive around them.

In “Fuite D’Enfance,” Parricelli’s nylon-string guitar changes the color. The opening leans into a Latin-tinged pulse with Holland’s syncopated bass, Maddren steady underneath, and the choir holding soft “oohs.” When Parricelli solos, his rounded tone adds a new grain to the sound. The choir remains present, the groove continues, and his line becomes another strand in the fabric.

“Heavenly City” unfolds in a similar way. Winstone’s scat, Lockheart’s tenor, Parricelli’s steel-string tone, and the choir’s layered entries all move through the same shifting frame. Maddren and Holland hold the pulse; Iles colors the harmony; Churchill adjusts the choir from sustained pad to moving lines. Parricelli’s phrases, quick ascents followed by more lyrical, blues-shaped ideas, sit inside that motion rather than stepping outside it.

Across the album, the music often moves through a familiar arc: a light opening, more lines added, denser counterpoint, then a release into a sustained chord. What keeps it alive is how differently that arc is handled each time.

“Inner Traces” grows from piano and voice into a full, layered texture before settling into a held final harmony. “Fuite D’Enfance” starts with guitar color and gradually fills out with choir and saxophone. “Heavenly City” builds step by step: bass and piano figure, split-choir lines, lead vocal, scat, tenor sax, guitar, and fuller swing.

At times, the music feels almost chamber-like, as in the opening of “Inner Traces.” Elsewhere, it leans toward a quartet or quintet, especially when Lockheart or Parricelli comes forward with the rhythm section. Then Churchill brings the full choir back in, and the texture expands again.

Vital Spark works because it treats the ensemble as a compositional tool. Holland, Winstone, Churchill, and the London Vocal Project build these performances from interacting lines rather than a simple lead-and-accompaniment model.

As the music reveals its parts, the detail remains obvious. Nothing blurs. Each line keeps its shape. The structure is something you can hear directly, in the way lines move, overlap, and finally come together.