CD REVIEW: Courtney Pine - Song (The Ballad Book)

Courtney Pine - Song (The Ballad Book)

(Destin – E Records 777102468X. CD review by Andy Boeckstaens)

On Friday, March 13, 2015
For listeners of a certain age, Courtney Pine may never completely escape from the controversy that surrounded his emergence and sudden fame around 1984. Younger fans will know him mainly as a forthright instrumentalist who creates tremendous power and communicates terrific excitement at his live appearances.

Since pianist Zoe Rahman won the Perrier Young Jazz Musician of the Year award in 1999, she has established herself as a formidable leader and composer. She has worked in Pine’s band for several years, and Song (The Ballad Book) is their first duet recording together.

"There is nothing like performing in a duet for bringing out the intimacy of great songs” says Pine, and he and Rahman prove it immediately on the lovely Beatrice. After the head - just when you think a solo will start - there is a wonderful, tightly arranged interlude. It's very different from composer Sam Rivers’ original (and from what many consider to be the definitive version: by Joe Henderson on “The State of the Tenor”); by the time the solos arrive, all comparison is pointless and it succeeds on its own terms.

This superb album is admirably straightforward and unadorned by "guests" and superfluous instrumentation. However, there are small gimmicks on Come Sunday: the opening melody is heard as a distant romp on scratchy vinyl, before a tambura-like drone takes over. Ellington’s thrilling bridge is flattened and the piece is transformed through to a dark conclusion that comes too soon. After a fabulous, deep rumble and plucked piano strings, Amazing Grace is delivered tenderly, and repeated in different octaves with almost no embellishment. Pine uses bass clarinet exclusively, and its flexible, expressive timbre suits these selections well. 

Preceded by a circular-breathed introduction, A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square epitomises the art of improvisation and also has a great finish. Pine’s composition Song, which appears two tracks later, assumes a remarkably similar feel and carries the gravitas of an old standard.

read more: http://news360.com/digestarticle/t7FExTQo6kO6PHucsvPSuA

Courtney Pine....

LIVE ALBUM LAUNCH AT RONNIE SCOTT'S - FEBRUARY 28 2009 TRANSITION IN TRADITION (En hommage a Sidney a Bechet)
Saxophonist Courtney Pine is back with his eagerly anticipated 12th studio album and his debut release on Destin-e World Records. This new work, not only pays tribute to the first great saxophone star Sidney Bechet, but also marks several new forays into sound for the groundbreaking Jazz Warrior.

The music was composed and evolved through a series of shows in the UK during 2007 before Pine brought his band into the studio to document and capture the energy, support and encouragement that only a live audience can give.
The result is breathtaking.
Featured on the recording are Guitarist Cameron Pierre, Pianist Alex Wilson, Electric Violinist Omar Puente, Double Bassist Darren Taylor, and Drummer Robert Fordjour, alongside American Vibraphonist/Marimba player Stefon Harris, all of whom have succeeded in creating music that is as deep as the legacy of jazz, and as encompassing as the journey from Africa, the Caribbean, South America and Europe can be - in other words, this is the soundtrack to their cultural journey.

A change in instrumentation sees Pine's Bass Clarinet take centre stage on many occasions, alongside Harmonium, Castanets and Mandolin and the resulting sound is like no other Courtney Pine record. "Of course I pay respect to the great Bechet by playing a silver soprano saxophone like his, but there are other flavours like my Alto Flute playing on The Tale Of Joe Harriott and of course that Caribbean groove".
It's that very groove that gives this album another of it's unique elements, as forays into New Orleans 2nd line beats merge into an old school swing beat, a medium tempo swing smoothly flows into a reggae one drop beat,
there is a feeling of continuing movement as each track passes from one place to another. "I want to show in these compositions how our journey as a culture is constantly in transition, things change in one tune musically just as we do in real life. You can hear this movement especially in Creole Swing or the blazing opener Haiti".

When asked about the South African tinged tracks (Afropean and Au Revoir), that close the album, Pine explains, "Having worked in the 80's with many of the exiles from Apartheid South Africa, these pieces fitted the project
perfectly as it was the changes in 1994, when all-inclusive elections occurred for the first time in South Africa, that inspired me to believe in the notion that this world could be a better place to live in".
Embracing change and unity, allowing for the transition of tradition.

New album and live performance at Ronnie Scott's, London, February 2009
http://www.ronniescotts.co.uk/artists/detail/367/courtney-pine-presents-transition-in-tradition-(en-hommage--sidney-bechet)/