Brecon Jazz 2015

Courtney Pine Presents ‘Song (The Ballad Book) ‘Featuring Zoe Rahman
Chapter Stage at Brecon Cathedral, 08/08/2015.

At the 2013 Brecon Jazz Festival I saw Courtney Pine present his ‘House of Legends’ show at the Market Hall, a disappointing affair played at rock volume levels that included some ill advised showmanship antics from the leader allied to an ultimately vacuous instrumental virtuosity. There was precious little genuine jazz content as Pine contrived to alienate not only the jazz purists but also many members of the wider public that he was seeking to attract with his blend of jazz, soul, reggae and other musics of the African diaspora.

I’ve always found him a perplexing, often frustrating artist, capable of brilliance but often pandering to the lowest common denominator as he attempts to bring jazz, admittedly often successfully, to a wider audience. I’ve seen some good shows from Pine and enjoyed some, but by no means all, of his albums. For me he’s the ultimate ‘curate’s egg’ of a performer. 

After the ‘House of Legends’ experience I vowed to myself that I’d never bother going to see Courtney Pine perform live ever again. But his latest project, “Song (The Ballad Book)”, a duo performance with pianist Zoe Rahman whetted my appetite. I’ve always been a big admirer of Rahman’s playing and also figured that in such an exposed context Pine would have to concentrate more fully on his own playing and on interacting with his musical partner. The album of the same name on Pine’s own Destin E record label has already received favourable reviews and hence I was looking forward to this show, particularly in the intimate setting of Brecon Cathedral where the acoustic is particularly well suited to small instrumental configurations such as this.

For this project Pine concentrates exclusively on bass clarinet, an instrument that I always enjoy hearing. Despite my many other reservations about his music Pine’s technical expertise has never been in doubt and he is as skilled on the bass clarinet as he ever was on tenor or soprano saxophone.
Rahman, too is a supremely gifted musician, a piano virtuoso who has been a consistently satisfying performer both live and on disc.

On the album “Song..” Pine stretches the jazz use of the word ‘ballad’ to include both jazz standards and rock and pop tunes - “they’re songs that have affected me, modern standards that I’ve grown up with” he explains. Some of these proved to be very familiar, others less so but all were claimed by Pine as his own in a performance that mixed superb musicianship with the inevitable showmanship and was altogether a vast improvement on his efforts in 2013.

Pine set his stall out early with a stunning solo bass clarinet intro to the Sam Rivers tune “Beatrice”, a veritable outpouring of notes and ideas that demonstrated both the remarkable range of the instrument plus, of course, Pine’s own formidable technical prowess. It was undeniably impressive but that nagging feeling that much of Pine’s virtuosity is essentially emotionally empty persisted - however much more involving music was to come later in the set.

Rahman came into her own more on the following piece, an arrangement of a pop tune that I recognised but couldn’t pin a title on, very possibly Brian McKnight’s “One Last Cry” which appears on the album. Here the pianist shared the solos with Pine as she stepped out of the accompanist’s role with typical assurance and aplomb. Rahman is a successful solo performer and bandleader in her own right with a series of highly acclaimed albums to her credit. She was characteristically excellent tonight, the perfect foil as she responded to Pine’s moves with acumen and conviction and made the most of her own opportunities as a soloist. However this was not as true a duo performance as that by pianist Kenny Barron and bassist Dave Holland had been at Theatr Brycheiniog the evening before. That had been a true meeting of equals, a conversation conducted on strictly egalitarian terms. As the billing above suggests this was more a case of leader and sidewoman and was ultimately less satisfying, although admittedly not by much as Rahman continued to make a superb contribution throughout.

Michel Legrand’s “Windmills Of Your Mind” underwent an extraordinary transformation with Pine’s bass clarinet underpinned by Rahman’s dense clusters and low end piano rumblings. The piece acquired a decidedly ominous air and one sensed that perhaps for the first time the duo were genuinely pushing the envelope. There was a real sense of atmosphere here, something that was ultimately more satisfying than the gratuitous showmanship of the previous piece which had included some overly mannered slap tonguing from Pine plus a diversion into the old Police hit “Don’t Stand So Close To Me”.

There was showmanship of altogether more successful kind as Pine left the stage and walked up the aisle to play among the audience on a performance of the spiritual “Let My People Go”. He advanced right to the back of the Cathedral and with Rahman left alone on the stage there was a stunning stereo effect as Pine took maximum advantage of the superb acoustics of the beautiful sacred space. It’s not a new trick of course but it was supremely effective. As Pine returned to the stage he broke into a trot and his playing became more impassioned, reinforcing the urgency of the message contained within the song’s title. Finally he conducted the audience in a softly sung chorus of “Let My People Go”. This was an example of Pine utilising his gift for showmanship in the best possible way.

Equally successful was a stunning version of “A Nightingale Sang In Berkeley Square”, one of the centrepieces of the album and a true re-imagining of a genuine jazz ballad. Even the high register trills simulating birdsong were effective as Pine again deployed the staggeringly wide tonal range of the bass clarinet, his own solo matched by some of Rahman’s most inventive playing of the set.

An appropriately hymnal passage of solo piano ushered in “Amazing Grace”, another very familiar tune given a dramatic makeover but still retaining its essential simplicity, spirituality and power, particularly in such an atmospheric sacred setting. With pieces like this one felt that Pine had retained an appropriate sense of reverence for his chosen material as the flashier showmanship elements took a welcome back seat.

Something of the air of spirituality was maintained on another spiritual, “Sometimes I Feel Like A Motherless Child” with keening, impassioned clarinet allied to Rahman’s piano and Pine’s foot generated percussive sounds (the scraping of boots, stamping of feet etc). Ultimately these became a little distracting as did a diversion into the Christmas carol “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen”. Courtney, it’s only August, Christmas will be here far too soon in any case without any help from you!

Pine was back on a showmanship roll again now, bigging up the Festival, justifiably so, and peppering the final number with quotes ranging from “Morning Has Broken” to “There’s No Place Like Home”. There was plenty of virtuoso soloing from both Pine and Rahman as the concert drew to a close with the duo being called back for a deserved encore, a lovely interpretation of “A Child Is Born”.

One of the largest audiences that I’ve ever seen at the Cathedral gave the duo a tremendous reception and at the ensuing ‘meet and greet’ business was extremely brisk with many copies of the new CD being sold.

This was a much improved performance from Courtney Pine and a welcome reminder of just how good he can be if he puts his mind to it. There was still a bit too much talking and a greater degree of showmanship than was strictly necessary but the playing from both musicians was superb with Rahman’s contribution adding greatly to the experience. The best parts of the set, its core if you will, was in the middle from “Windmills Of Your Mind” through “Amazing Grace”, four performances that added an element of profundity and emotional involvement to Pine’s omnipresent showmanship.

Minor quibbles aside this was the best Courtney Pine show that I’ve seen for a very long time.