Jazzpine

Courtney Pine Obe brings his saxophone to Manila this week as he launches the first Fusion Jazz Festival tomorrow, and then shows off his virtuosity in a one-night-only concert on November 15 to promote his latest album, Devotion.

Pine’s debut album–Journey to the Urge Within released in 1987–was the first serious jazz album to ever make the British Top 40, notching up sales to qualify for a silver disc.

A multi-instrumentalist, Pine plays flute, tenor, and soprano saxes with equal deftness.

"Like a lot of kids, my first instrument was a recorder, " he narrates. "I liked the idea of a wind instrument, which is what directed me to the saxophone."

When Pine was in his teens, his clarinet teacher in school, Clive Davis, lent him a tenor sax for the summer holiday, and helped the adolescent talent eventually get an A-level in music. He would have loved to go to college, but as with many youths bitten by the music bug, he began gigging out.

"My first real job was at Sainsburys," he recalls. "I was meant to be working one Friday when I also got a gig to support the pop group Madness at the Rainbow theatre in London. The manager told me I could either turn up and keep my job or do my music and leave. I had no choice–I played the gig."

There was no turning back as Pine charted a career that earned him respect from the jazz academy. Cracking the American jazz charts in 1988 with the acclaimed Destiny’s Song, his international stature grew, taking him all the way to Nelson Mandela’s 80th birthday concert at the Wembley Arena and, eventually, to Buckingham Palace for the Queen’s Millennium Honours when, at the age of 36, he was made a member of the Order of the British Empire together with Sean Connery, Norman Wisdom, Elizabeth Taylor, Shirley Bassey and Julie Andrews.

Indeed, the applause has not died down for the 21st century jazzman who spent his boyhood at the Rutherford Secondary in Paddington, the sort of school whose boys tend to make less prestigious court appearances. More than anything, Pine has made black musicians in Britain feel that contemporary jazz is valid–that they can study and play the music without commer-cialising it with rap messages about killing people.

"With jazz, you can infuse dignity and honor and refer to your past," he stresses. "It forces you to research the essence of what we are as human beings."

Born in London to Jamaican parents who moved to Britain after the war, Pine has always been proud of his heritage and has resigned himself to doing what others don’t. Like other former "subjects" who emigrated, his folks took menial jobs the locals refused to take. It was an ever-hostile environment, especially for musicians.

His success in penetrating the American music scene earned him a slot playing with the All-Star American band, which confirmed his international status. But when he turned down Art Blakey’s offer for him to join the Jazz Messengers, Wynton and Bradford Marsalis shook their heads in disbelief. Pine never regretted his decision, however.

"I was starting a family then, and I didn’t really enjoy being in America., " he explains. "I wasn’t interested in playing horn parts in the back of someone else’s band. The music I’ve been doing is British-based, made by British musicians. Nobody in America is doing that."

To say that Pine triggered the dramatic transformation in the UK is an understatement. Until he broke through, the British jazz scene was almost all white–blacks stuck to funk, soul and reggae.

While he grew up dancing in the clubs to the music of Art Blakey and Lou Donaldson, he leaves the traditional jazz structure to North Americans. It was a conscious decision to present something different by jazzing up jazz itself.

"They can have the suits and the ties, play bebop and be cool," Pine chuckles. "But we’re from a different place and time. If you want to reach out to young people, speak their language."

After a trip to the Carribean in 1990, Pine produced a collection of reggae tunes, including the single I’m Still Waiting, which eventually reached number 14 on the Billboard charts. Then he decided to push the boundaries of jazz even further by fusing it with hip-hop through computerised sampling plus the turntable wizardry of DJ Pogo. Also joining him for the joyride on Modern Day Jazz Stories were heavyweights like Gerri Allen on piano, guitarist Mark Wilson, Eddie Henderson on trumpet, Ronnie Burrage on drums, Charnett Moffett on bass and singer Cassandra Wilson.

Not one to sit on his laurels, Pine–who won the MOBO (Music of Black origin) Award for Best Jazz Act in 1996-97–continues to experiment with other global genres. His latest album, Devotion, which will be released in the Philippines by Destin-E Records through the British Council, has been spiced up by classical Indian flavors.

"I want to make music that heals you," he explains. "Indian music helps me get closer to that goal."

Fitting snugly into the British Council’s global agenda of "connec-ting futures," Pine has spearheaded an educational project that has taken him to Africa, Asia and South America. Music is dealt with as a creative force for disadvantaged areas, inner cities and rural communities. And Pine claims he gets as much out of the workshops as the kids that join.

"When I see their eyes light up, it inspires me. Kids have no precon-ception that the music is supposed to be difficult. They come in calm, I ignite them, and they respond," he enthuses. The National Foundation for Youth Music, which has been funding Pine’s workshop tour, attests that he has given kids more self-confidence and has even helped autistic children.

A consummate road warrior, Pine believes that traveling has helped him to learn, develop and be more than what he was designed to be. To him, jazz is a communications tool that works vertically as well as horizontally.

"I thought jazz artists were talking to God," Pine explains. "I want the ultimate. I still want the ultimate."

The Fusion Jazz Festival launch will be held tomorrow at the Rockwell grounds. Courtney Pine and his Jazz Warriors will perform on Nov. 15 at 8 pm at Crossroads 77 (Mother Ignacia St., QC). Call the British Council at tel 914-1011 for tickets.