Jazz Articles

Courtney Pine: Spirituality

by Chris May
November 27, 2022

In the 1980s, as a co-founder of the band Jazz Warriors and with his debut album Journey To The Urge Within (Island, 1986), reed player Courtney Pine inspired a generation young black British musicians, and not a few white ones, too. On Spirituality, Pine teams up with pianist Zoe Rahman, herself an influential figure, for a reprise of their album Song (The Ballad Book) (Destin-E, 2015). Both albums feature Pine on bass clarinet and Rahman in a ...

Courtney Pine: House of Legends

by Ian Patterson
January 23, 2013

Though multi-reedist Courtney Pine has been playing soprano for almost 30 years, this is the first occasion he's recorded an entire album with the instrument. Following his bass clarinet adventures on the European roots album Europa (Destin-E, 2011) it's clear that the modern British jazz legend doesn't tire of setting himself new challenges. Taking as his inspiration the roots of the British Afro-Caribbean community, Pine visits calypso, soca, zouk, reggae and South African rhythms in a joyous dance party that's ...

Omar Puente: From There To Here

by Chris May
October 31, 2009

Originally a classical violinist--before settling in England in 1997 he was first violin with the Nacional Symphony Orquestra in his native Cuba--Omar Puente has since focused on modern Cuban music and jazz, exploring the mutalities of the two traditions, and increasingly favoring an electric instrument. From There To Here is, remarkably given Puente's distinguished guest artist scorecard, his first album as leader. It's a fiery and exuberant set, touching on Africa, Cuba and England as it progresses.

In England, Puente ...

Courtney Pine: Transition In Tradition

by Chris May
February 16, 2009

British reed player Courtney Pine began his professional life in reggae bands, and reggae's “conscious" music tradition has since been a defining feature of his work. Pine plays conscious jazz, in that many of his compositions and recording projects have held a focus on social rights and justice as seen through the prism of the black experience. Sometimes the story has been told with the aid of vocalists; sometimes, as on the exuberant Transition In Tradition, instrumentally--through track titles, liner ...

Jazz Warriors: Afropeans

by Ian Patterson
September 14, 2008

Jazz Warriors Afropeans Destin-E Records 2008

It is probably no coincidence that saxophonist Courtney Pine resurrected the name Jazz Warriors for the fifteen musicians assembled to perform Afropeans, a work commissioned by the Arts Council of England to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the Abolition of the Slave Trade Act (though not slavery itself), and performed at the Barbican, London in July, 2007.

The intention of Pine's short-lived Jazz Warriors in the ...

Jazz Warriors: Afropeans

by Chris May
April 17, 2008

A live recording made at London's Barbican concert hall in October, 2007, Afropeans commemorated two anniversaries. The first, for which reed player/composer Courtney Pine had been commissioned to assemble the music and the band, was the 200th anniversary of Britain's abolition of the slave trade. The second, coincidentally but with a fine synchronicity, was the 20th anniversary of the pioneering London-based band the Jazz Warriors' only album, Out Of Many, One People (Island, 1987).

Founded by ...

Empirical: Empirical

by Frederick Bernas
September 19, 2007

Empirical burst onto the international music scene at the 2007 North Sea Jazz Festival, beating four other bands to win the inaugural European Jazz Competition. Two days later, with perfect timing, its self-titled debut album hit the shops. British saxophonist Courtney Pine had been keeping a keen eye on the quintet's progress and produced the CD, which is released on his own Destin-E records.

It's a startlingly mature set for such a young group, undoubtedly as a result of time ...

Cameron Pierre: Pad Up (Get Ready)

by Chris May
January 28, 2007

While rocked-up holy barbarians like Charlie Hunter explode the boundaries of jazz guitar playing, there's still plenty of juice in the straight-ahead tradition--in the right pair of hands. Pat Martino proved that last year with his gob-smackingly inventive Wes Montgomery tribute on Blue Note, Remember. Lest we forget, British-based player Cameron Pierre sings his own legacy-affirming song on Pad Up (Get Ready).

Martino's reference point is the timeline connecting Charlie Christian and Montgomery. The younger Pierre's is a decade or ...