UNITED KINGDOM: BRITISH JAZZ MUSICIAN COURTNEY PINE SPEAKS ABOUT HIS WONDERFUL YEAR

Record ID: 390623

  • Title: UNITED KINGDOM: BRITISH JAZZ MUSICIAN COURTNEY PINE SPEAKS ABOUT HIS WONDERFUL YEAR
  • Date: 10th December 2000
  • Summary: ROYAL FESTIVAL HALL, LONDON UK (RECENT) (REUTERS) SCU: (SOUNDBITE) (English) COURTNEY SAYING "If somebody plays or says a phrase over there I should be able to play that exact phrase that they spoke. And that's how I want to get the saxophone, to the point where it feels as if I'm speaking through the saxophone or singing through the saxophone."
  • Embargoed: 25th December 2000 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM & VARIOUS LOCATIONS
  • Country: United Kingdom
  • Topics: Entertainment,General
  • Reuters ID: LVAEKKWCQ37K6WRHYB3D0OCWG6TD
  • Story Text: The ambassador of British jazz has made it from the Atlantic Bar in Brixton's Coldharbour Lane to big venues such as London's Royal Festival Hall. Since being kicked off stages for being black, Courtney Pine is now selling out one of London's biggest concert halls. As his new technology-driven album, Back in the Day, hits the record stores, Courtney takes time out of his packed schedule to shed light on what has been an exceptional journey - topped off by the Queen awarding him an OBE.
    He's made it. This is the peak of Courtney Pine's journey, playing to a full house at London's prestigious Royal Festival Hall. But that's not to say it's been an easy journey. "When I arrived, it seemed there was nobody black playing . At the time it was very difficult for us to go to certain clubs - 'Can I get up and play?' 'No!' - that was the reply we had so many times. So what we did is we devised a scheme where we would travel in crews, four or five saxophone players, we'd go into the toilet, work on some tunes, come out, I would knock the music stand over, and the other guy would carry on while the guy's scrabbling with the music stand. Then the owners of the club would turn the lights on and stop the event. They were jam sessions, every single night of the week, and slowly but surely we shut them all down. In one way or another."
    Now that he's one of Britain's biggest selling jazz artists, Courtney doesn't have to compose in toilets anymore, but his style of composition is still constantly changing and moving with the times. Sitting down at his garnd piano writing notes may have worked in the earlier days, but it's technology that now drives Courtney's music. His new album was written entirely from his home, using the many computers that line his rooms. Of all the genres, jazz is the one that particularly reflects the social climate: "Composition also now, for me, is almost like the hip-hop way, where you have a classic break, you take a classic theme tune, say like "Summertime", and you just take the first four bars of "Summertime", you would sample that, and you'd have it going over and over and over, as a drone - like in Indian music - and you play a new melody on it, you put new lyrics on it. Any you'd grow from that fragment of "Summertime", like in the hip-hop way."
    Courtney's passion for technology is mirrored in his excitement for music. He's always been one to do things his own way, writing off the "rules" that restrict many jazz performers. The Royal Festival Hall gave Courtney the chance to play live with some of the performers he invited to play with him on the new album, Back in the Day. Beverley Knight, Lynden David Hall, Kelly le Roc were all there. They may not be jazz musicians but that means nothing to Courtney. "I think that's the other flex about this generation of jazz musicians - we're not really worried about if you're wearing that jazz badge, if you are a performer then you're on a level, you would have touched jazz anyway, so let's work together. So for me it's just a matter of working with people - I enjoy their voice, I enjoy their spirit - and when we get together and make music it's a good time."
    But with or without other performers, playing the saxophone always guarantees Courtney is having a good time. It's his way of communicating, and he discovered it once he realised he was never going to be a vocalist: "Once you put that saxophone into your mouth it becomes an extension of you, it's as if you're singing. And I've heard many saxophone players on stage who've inspired me and it's like you can hear secret words they're playing through the saxophone."
    Perhaps it's this passion, this enormous effort to communicate on such an intimate level that has propelled Courtney to the height of success at such an early age. And it's probably going to continue.
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