this is an old page of: www.europejazz.net  
Europe Jazz Network
MUSICIANS

COURTNEY PINE

No one better embodies the dramatic transformation in the British Jazz scene over the past few years than Courtney Pine. The saxophonist heads a new generation of exciting and innovative musicians who have chosen to turn their talents to the demanding requirements of jazz music, in all its shapes and forms. Pine's emergence, and his wake a number of other young black musicians is specially heartening. With one or two exceptions, most notably the late Joe Harriott and trumpeter Dizzy Reece, Brithish Jazz had been largely the province of white players, while black musicians tended to turn to the reggae, funk and soul fields.
Pine reversed that trend, moving away from the instrumental limitations of reggae in pursuit of the stetsoned, saxophone- slinging Sonny Rollins (as immortalised in Williams Claxton's famous sleeve for the Way out West album) and a musical setting which would allow him to stretch out and make full use of the hours of woodshedding he embarked on; a rigorous regime of practice which gave Pine the essential technical facility to continue in pursuit of his chosen music. "As that time I didn't know what improvising entailed" he recalls. "I knew nothing at all about chord substitutions, I just knew how to play the instrument and the C sharp major scale, and that was it. I put the record on and tried to play what Sonny played, regardless of whether he was flattening his ninths. I was ignorant."
The ignorance, however, quickly transformed into competence. It took Pine no time at all to make his mark on the London scene, and Island Records was quick to recognise the potential. Much of the astonishing media focus which Pine enjoyed as the prelude to the release of his debut album, Journey to the Urge Within, was motivated by the novelty appeal of a personable, sharply-dressed young black jazzman, rather than a real commitment to the music itself, none of that really superficial treatment rubbed off on Courtney Pine himself. It served, however, to advance his career and also create new opportunities for a generation of young black players. Pine was involved in the creation of the Abibi Jazz Arts organisation in London, a focus for the advancement of, in Courtney's worlds, "Afro-Classical music". Pine, through Abibi, was a prime mover in the creation of the Jazz Warriors, an all-black big band. The warriors made their recording debut with Out of many, one people on Antilles in 1987. They became a constantly evolving training ground, in the spirit its founders intended.
Pine's Journey to the Urge Within was the first serious jazz album eve to make the British Top 40, notching up sales to qualify for a silver disc. Destiny's song released in January 1988 was produced by Delfeayo Marsalis. This album found Pine in his high energy mode, drawing directly on his studies of American music but still flavoured with the essence of the Caribbean roots he absorbed in his London upbringing. Destiny's song emulated its predecessor by making the British top 40; it also cracked the American jazz charts, estabilishing the start of Pine's international reputation.
The saxophonist has never been content to rest on his achievements, but has continually explored different tangents of the spreading jazz tree. The investigation of the Afro-Classical tradition continued on his subsequent album release, The vision's tale issued in November 1989, in which the saxophonist interpreted the work of early giants like Ellington, Mercer and Carmichael as well as directing a nod toward Sonny Rollins. In March 1990 Pine released a four-track EP Songs from our Underground which continued his explorations, from the funky Hit or Miss to the beautiful Skylark. At the star of 1990 Pine had travelled to Jamaica for a showcase jazz gig. While he was on the island he took the opportunity to record an album with the hottest producer in contemporary reggae, Gussie Clarke. The result was a collection of tunes which took Pine right back to his musical roots.
In July 1991, Antilles released Within the Realms of our Dreams an album again produced by Delfeayo Marsallis; a collection of shimmering jazz cuts recorded in New York. In 1993 Pine recorded To the Eyes of Creation, an album with a mixture of sounds, incorporating jazz, African, Indian and West Indian influence, which chart his continuing development of his musical and personal interests.

Europe Jazz Network top