COURTNEY PINE - Song (The Ballad Book)
Destin E Records 777102468X, 2015
Courtney Pine (bass clarinet), Zoe Rahman (acoustic piano).
A new CoUrtney Pine album is always a cultural event and this one does not disappoint. On this recording Pine continues his fruitful collaboration with pianist Zoe Rahman, and with the bass clarinet. If over the past few recordings Pine has explored the rich and varied musical and cultural heritage of Europe and the legacy of Jamaican music then this time perhaps the scope is more instantly recognisable for more mainstream jazz audiences.
Drawing upon the music of Duke Ellington and Sam Rivers as well as perhaps better known tunes such as ‘Amazing Grace’ and ‘A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square’ the album has a careful intensity that draws in the listener. The stripped down sound is perhaps most noticeably in evidence on ‘Amazing Grace’ and the Donny Hathaway and Edward Howard song ‘Someday We’ll all be Free’. The album only features one original Pine contribution called simply ‘Song’. Overall it is the uncomplicated simplicity of the music that is most in evidence. Throughout Pine’s playing has a spiritual beauty that is unlikely to be matched by many other of this year’s new releases.
This landmark recording will be returned to many times over the years and has clearly been inspired by albums recorded by Coltrane and Dexter Gordon offering a similar title to those recorded in the 1960s. If last time round Pine treated his listeners to an up-beat Trench town swing that was unfairly criticised in some quarters for not being jazz this time he has offered perhaps a more conventional recording, but one that is likely to be remembered as one of his best. If Courtney Pine remains the best known player in British jazz then this may well end up enhancing his reputation even further. A superb piece of music that I felt privileged to hear. This is a piece of music that deserves to be heard while beyond the confines of the jazz canon for reminding us that for all of the music’s innovative and often atonal brilliance sometimes jazz is at its most affecting when it concentrates on the delicate beauty of sound. In this respect, the sleeve notes intriguingly offer a sentence which simply reads ‘Fight Against All Evil’. While we are left guessing as to what this might mean such sensitively realised music leaves no room for it grow.
Reviewed by Nick Stevenson
Destin E Records 777102468X, 2015
Courtney Pine (bass clarinet), Zoe Rahman (acoustic piano).
A new CoUrtney Pine album is always a cultural event and this one does not disappoint. On this recording Pine continues his fruitful collaboration with pianist Zoe Rahman, and with the bass clarinet. If over the past few recordings Pine has explored the rich and varied musical and cultural heritage of Europe and the legacy of Jamaican music then this time perhaps the scope is more instantly recognisable for more mainstream jazz audiences.
Drawing upon the music of Duke Ellington and Sam Rivers as well as perhaps better known tunes such as ‘Amazing Grace’ and ‘A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square’ the album has a careful intensity that draws in the listener. The stripped down sound is perhaps most noticeably in evidence on ‘Amazing Grace’ and the Donny Hathaway and Edward Howard song ‘Someday We’ll all be Free’. The album only features one original Pine contribution called simply ‘Song’. Overall it is the uncomplicated simplicity of the music that is most in evidence. Throughout Pine’s playing has a spiritual beauty that is unlikely to be matched by many other of this year’s new releases.
This landmark recording will be returned to many times over the years and has clearly been inspired by albums recorded by Coltrane and Dexter Gordon offering a similar title to those recorded in the 1960s. If last time round Pine treated his listeners to an up-beat Trench town swing that was unfairly criticised in some quarters for not being jazz this time he has offered perhaps a more conventional recording, but one that is likely to be remembered as one of his best. If Courtney Pine remains the best known player in British jazz then this may well end up enhancing his reputation even further. A superb piece of music that I felt privileged to hear. This is a piece of music that deserves to be heard while beyond the confines of the jazz canon for reminding us that for all of the music’s innovative and often atonal brilliance sometimes jazz is at its most affecting when it concentrates on the delicate beauty of sound. In this respect, the sleeve notes intriguingly offer a sentence which simply reads ‘Fight Against All Evil’. While we are left guessing as to what this might mean such sensitively realised music leaves no room for it grow.
Reviewed by Nick Stevenson
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