{{Short description|1995 studio album by Azimuth}} {{use dmy dates|date=November 2023}} {{Infobox album | name = How It Was Then... Never Again | type = album | artist = Azimuth | cover = Azimuth_How_It_Was_Then.jpg | alt = | released = 1995 | recorded = April 1994 | venue = | studio = Rainbow Studio<br>Oslo, Norway | genre = Jazz | length = 44:53 | label = ECM<br>ECM 1538 | producer = Manfred Eicher | chronology = Azimuth | prev_title = Azimuth '85 | prev_year = 1985 | next_title = | next_year = }} '''''How It Was Then... Never Again''''' is an album by British jazz trio Azimuth, consisting pianist John Taylor, vocalist Norma Winstone and trumpeter Kenny Wheeler, recorded in April 1994 and released on ECM the following year.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.jazzmusicarchives.com/album/azimuth/how-it-was-then-never-again |title=Azimuth: How It Was Then... Never Again |website=Jazz Music Archives |access-date=April 24, 2022}}</ref><ref name="allmusic" />
==Reception== {{Album ratings | rev1 = AllMusic | rev1Score = {{rating|3|5}}<ref name="allmusic">{{cite web |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/how-it-was-thennever-again-mw0000615829 |title=Azimuth: How It Was Then... Never Again |last=Yanow |first=Scott |website=AllMusic |access-date=April 24, 2022}}</ref> | rev2 = ''The Penguin Guide to Jazz'' | rev2Score = {{rating|3.5|4}}<ref name="penguin">{{cite book | last1=Cook |first1=Richard |last2=Morton |first2=Brian | title=The Penguin Guide to Jazz on CD | publisher=Penguin Books | year=1998| pages=69 }}</ref> | rev3 = ''The Virgin Encyclopedia of Jazz'' | rev3Score = {{rating|4|5}}<ref>{{cite book | last=Larkin |first=Colin |title=The Virgin Encyclopedia of Jazz |publisher=Virgin Books |year=2004 |pages=44 }}</ref> }} Writing for ''Jazz Times'', Jim Ferguson stated that the group's music, "earthy yet ethereal, minimalist yet often complex—is as inventive as their instrumentation is unique." He commented: "Sublimely artful but hardly qualifying as jazz in the conventional sense, Azimuth's music is beyond categorization."<ref>{{cite web |url=https://jazztimes.com/reviews/albums/azimuth-how-it-was-then-never-again |title=Azimuth: How It Was Then... Never Again |first=Jim |last=Ferguson |date=May 1, 1997 |website=Jazz Times |access-date=April 24, 2022}}</ref>
In a review for AllMusic, Scott Yanow wrote: "Taylor sometimes recalls Keith Jarrett, while Wheeler comes across as the most conventional of the three participants, and Winstone's voice keeps the music from getting too comfortable or predictable. Interesting but not essential music from three adventurous spirits."<ref name="allmusic" />
The authors of the ''Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings'' commented: "the music... is as progressive and empirical as anything the group has done in 20 years... Winstone's voice is as pure and reed-like as ever."<ref name="penguin" />
Between Sound and Space's Tyran Grillo stated: "''How it was then...'' is a genealogy of emotions and places, a tale of winter blooms that hook their stamen onto errant sunrays and uproot themselves into weightless life. Though not as essential as earlier work, it waits all the same with bated breath and open arms."<ref>{{cite web |url=https://ecmreviews.com/2012/08/25/how-it-was-then |title=Azimuth: 'How it was then... never again' |first=Tyran |last=Grillo |date=August 25, 2012 |website=Between Sound and Space |access-date=April 24, 2022}}</ref>
==Track listing==
#"How It Was Then" (Wheeler, Winstone) – 7:45 #"Looking On" (Taylor, Winstone) – 5:33 #"Whirlpool" (Taylor) – 4:18 #"Full Circle" (Taylor) – 8:04 #"How Deep Is the Ocean" (Irving Berlin) – 3:27 #"Stango" (Taylor) – 4:14 #"Mindiatyr" (Bobo Stenson) – 6:02 #"Wintersweet" (Wheeler, Winstone) – 5:30
==Personnel==
=== Azimuth === *Norma Winstone – vocals *John Taylor – piano *Kenny Wheeler – trumpet, flugelhorn
==References== {{Reflist}} {{Azimuth (band)}} {{Authority control}} Category:ECM Records albums Category:Azimuth (band) albums Category:1995 albums Category:Albums produced by Manfred Eicher