Courtney Pine - Europa

Insured acoustic jazz, lush ballads to tumultuous post-bop, an All-Star Game Group. Daniel Spicer 2011-03-04

Since Courtney Pine burst into the public consciousness in its infancy, the journey to the inner urge, in 1986, he lived a number of overlapping personae: neo-con hard-bop, lion young to the broadcaster's respected and EPC. For a British jazz musician, he has had unparalleled success and a high profile along the "national treasure" status.

In the 1990s, albums, as the stories of Jazz modern day diversion much energy trying to tap into contemporary urban sounds of hip hop and jungle, with various success. Thus, purists will welcome return of this jazz album. Apart from a few (thankfully brief) dated Drum bursts of ' low rhythmic, this is ensured acoustic jazz, ranging from lush to tumultuous post-bop ballads, played by a band All - Star Game, including drummer Mark Mondesir, pianist Zoe Rahman and the rise of the clarinetist Shabaka Hutchins. However, there is an element of innovation, it comes from the first recordings of pine which agrees completely saxophone and plays only the bass clarinet: extracting its stamps Woody, rich, exaggerated harmonic investigations and spinning frequently in longsolo tumbling which need more John Coltrane diamond-hard intensity than engineering through proselytiser of the bass clarinet, Eric Dolphy.

There is an element of exoticism on his choice of Horn for compositions of the album, which much confused affects Middle Eastern music and Celtic reels with klezmer and jazz, creating a hybrid of trotters who recalls experiences of Lloyd Miller ethno-jazz. All this is done in the service of the overall concept of the album - an attempt to examine Africa the influence on the origins and development of the continent of Europe. And that is to say, this is fail main project, with sleeves long but notes sloppy struggling to hold the whole a confusing history of ancient Egyptian priests, conquerors Moors and Pygmies Viking. Of course, we cannot forget the mistakes of spelling and grammar of the sixth-form but then pine States flatly Dream Report that Darwin is "a bid to prove that the concept of Darwin on evolution was premature and incorrect" - without qualification or explanation - one cannot help raising an eyebrow. Enough with the conferences already, Courtney.