Vital Spark
Over many years, Kenny Wheeler quietly entrusted a series of new compositions to Pete Churchill. Following Kenny’s death, those pieces became Vital Spark—a collaboration that brings together close musical friends to celebrate his remarkable legacy.
Jazz legends Dave Holland and Norma Winstone, together with the versatile London Vocal Project, present Vital Spark—an album featuring a collection of Kenny Wheeler’s final compositions that were sent over time to Pete Churchill and brought to life through patient arrangement, deep listening, and mutual trust.
Vital Spark captures a rare unity between jazz ensemble and choir, revealing a sound that’s both unforced, delicate, reflective and full of Kenny’s character and energy. The music features new lyrics by Norma Winstone, alongside Wheeler’s settings of poems by Stevie Smith, Lewis Carroll, and William Blake. The result is unmistakably Kenny Wheeler: lyrical but unsentimental, harmonically rich yet spacious. For Dave, Norma, and Pete, this project is not a retrospective but a personal, shared act of remembering and reinterpreting, shaped by decades of friendship, collaboration, and quiet reverence for one of the most singular voices in modern music.
Critical Aclaim
“With Norma Winstone’s voice at the centre, woven through the textures provided by the London Vocal Project, there is a return to the sound of Mirrors… Churchill’s craft, familiarity with Wheeler’s writing, and gift for arranging alchemy have translated the mailed manuscripts into arrangements for Winstone, LVP, and the band.”
— Mike Collins, UK Jazz News
“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.”
— Ferell Aubre, The Jazz Word
“Time and relationships have shaped this music… It has been a deeply personal project for many of those involved and a highly successful one that interprets and integrates Wheeler’s lyrical and melodic style with the vitality of a large vocal ensemble.”
— Neil Duggan, All About Jazz
ABOUT THE LONDON VOCAL PROJECT
The London Vocal Project is one of the UK’s leading contemporary vocal ensembles, renowned for its blend of jazz, contemporary harmony, and adventurous vocal storytelling. Under the direction of Pete Churchill, the choir has collaborated with many of the world’s most celebrated jazz musicians, creating projects that place the human voice at the heart of ensemble music. Their critically acclaimed album Vital Spark, recorded with Dave Holland and Norma Winstone, celebrates the final compositions of Kenny Wheeler through richly woven choral textures, imaginative arrangements, and a deeply personal collaboration widely praised for its seamless integration of choir and jazz ensemble.
ABOUT PETE CHURCHILL
Originally from Canada, Pete Churchill has been based in the UK since 1985 and is internationally recognised as one of Europe’s leading jazz vocal specialists. He is Professor of Jazz Composition at the Royal Academy of Music in London and also teaches at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels. In recognition of his outstanding contribution to the field, Pete was awarded the Parliamentary Jazz Award for Services to Jazz Education in 2007.
Alongside his work as an educator, Pete enjoys a diverse career as a pianist, singer, conductor, composer, arranger and musical director. He has collaborated with many of the world’s leading jazz artists, including long-standing musical partnerships with Kenny Wheeler, Abdullah Ibrahim and Mark Murphy, and has conducted major projects such as the Kenny Wheeler Big Band’s 80th Birthday Tour, which culminated in the acclaimed album The Long Waiting.
As founder and musical director of the London Vocal Project, Pete has established the ensemble as one of the UK’s leading contemporary vocal groups. His arrangements and choral direction lie at the heart of the critically acclaimed album Vital Spark, created in collaboration with Dave Holland and Norma Winstone and celebrating the final compositions of Kenny Wheeler. Widely praised for its imaginative writing and seamless integration of choir and jazz ensemble, the project reflects Pete’s longstanding friendship with Wheeler and his unique ability to bring complex, expressive music vividly to life.