{"id":467,"date":"2018-03-15T07:07:23","date_gmt":"2018-03-15T07:07:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/?p=467"},"modified":"2018-05-11T07:39:00","modified_gmt":"2018-05-11T07:39:00","slug":"review-courtney-pine-and-the-inner-city-ensemble","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/2018\/03\/15\/review-courtney-pine-and-the-inner-city-ensemble\/","title":{"rendered":"REVIEW: COURTNEY PINE AND THE INNER CITY ENSEMBLE"},"content":{"rendered":"

Following Dave Spikey\u2019s show at the Grand (subtext 174), your correspondent visited the same theatre to see quite a different artist a few days later, along with some familiar faces from Freehold and other Lancaster environs, plus some well-known faces from the University. They had come to see Courtney Pine. This world famous saxophonist is one of the most exciting and talented performers around. Fusing hip-hop, jazz, and groove, he is revered across the world for his innovative style and love of live performances. Last time he played Lancaster he was at the Dukes and brought the house down (well, the ceiling at least \u2013 the pitch and volume of his playing caused flecks of paint to drift down into the audience).<\/span><\/p>\n

No such happenings at the Grand, a theatre Pine described as \u2018old school\u2019. He also expressed some apprehension to be playing at a venue that would be hosting Roy Chubby Brown in a couple of weeks time!<\/span><\/p>\n

Courtney is credited with dramatically transforming the face of contemporary British Jazz over the last 30 years. This groundbreaking saxophonist and multi-instrumentalist has led a generation of players who have broadened their styles to take jazz out to a wider audience.<\/span><\/p>\n

On this occasion, Courtney was joined by the Inner City Ensemble – a free-form improvisational musical collective featuring young, pioneering crossover musicians, combining different sonic backgrounds including jazz, post-industrial, noise-rock and electronic. Their music is full of discrete melodies and subtle rhythms – somewhere in between meditative ambience and percussive trance. The ensemble played drums, double bass, piano\/keyboards, guitar, tuba, trombone and clarinet\/baritone saxophone with warmth, imagination and a soulful intensity.<\/span><\/p>\n

Each player was showcased during a variety of numbers, occasionally engaging in some playful end-of-the-pier call-and-response routines. Courtney got in on this act with a frantic \u2018dueling banjos\u2019 riff between his saxophone and the young drummer. Together, Courtney and this band of very talented musicians fused the central elements of jazz and soul with shades of drum and bass with energy, improvisation and huge smiles on their faces. This was all accomplished after just two days of rehearsal and four live shows. Amazing. Great night, although your cultural correspondent is still intrigued by the composition of the various audiences who chose to attend particular venues, people-watching being part of his day job.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Following Dave Spikey\u2019s show at the Grand (subtext 174), your correspondent visited the same theatre to see quite a different artist a few days later, along with some familiar faces from Freehold and other Lancaster environs, plus some well-known faces … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":568,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[8],"tags":[266,262,181],"class_list":["post-467","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-review","tag-courtney-pine","tag-issue-175","tag-jazz"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p99sHo-7x","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":65,"url":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/2017\/10\/12\/theatre-review-the-suitcase\/","url_meta":{"origin":467,"position":0},"title":"THEATRE REVIEW: THE SUITCASE","author":"Johnny Unger","date":"October 12 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Lancaster University had yet another works outing at the Dukes on the 28th September. Your correspondent is sure there were some people at the show who were not Lancaster University employees but that particular evening it did feel that they were very much in the minority. They were gathered to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "review"","block_context":{"text":"review","link":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/category\/review\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":161,"url":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/2017\/11\/09\/lancaster-lit-up\/","url_meta":{"origin":467,"position":1},"title":"LANCASTER LIT UP","author":"Johnny Unger","date":"November 9 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Phantasmagorical. Brilliant. Captivating. Light Up Lancaster was a delight \u2013 two evenings of illumination, art, music, projection and performance in the city centre. Beg, borrow or hire a small child and witness the look of wonder on their faces. This year the theme was the natural world and the city\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "review"","block_context":{"text":"review","link":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/category\/review\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":459,"url":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/2018\/03\/15\/letters-10\/","url_meta":{"origin":467,"position":2},"title":"LETTERS","author":"Johnny Unger","date":"March 15 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Dear subtext, This week our VC wrote to tell us that Lancaster would have supported the ACAS deal. But it is also true Lancaster would have supported the original UUK\/USS proposal (perhaps reluctantly) which amounted to little less than criminal theft of our pensions. This week our VC also wrote\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "letters"","block_context":{"text":"letters","link":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/category\/letters\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":143,"url":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/2017\/10\/26\/lessons-in-how-not-to-do-things\/","url_meta":{"origin":467,"position":3},"title":"LESSONS IN HOW NOT TO DO THINGS","author":"Johnny Unger","date":"October 26 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Not long after the messy introduction of a divisive plan to close down a department in LUMS (see subtext 165), subtext learns of some rather odd and worrying developments in the Law Department. The Head of Department, Professor Alisdair Gillespie, held a \u2018secret\u2019 strategic review to determine the future of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "news"","block_context":{"text":"news","link":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":957,"url":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/2019\/04\/02\/an-exceptional-piano-recital\/","url_meta":{"origin":467,"position":4},"title":"AN EXCEPTIONAL PIANO RECITAL","author":"Johnny Unger","date":"April 2 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Review by Martin Widden Some years ago, with help from the Friends of the Lancaster Concerts, the University bought a new Steinway concert grand piano for the Great Hall. Our old Steinway had reached the stage where good pianists were complaining about the state of it, and seemed quite likely\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "contributed article"","block_context":{"text":"contributed article","link":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/category\/contributed-article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":287,"url":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/2018\/01\/18\/martin-widden-britains-fiercest-music-critic\/","url_meta":{"origin":467,"position":5},"title":"MARTIN WIDDEN: ‘BRITAIN\u2019S FIERCEST MUSIC CRITIC’","author":"Johnny Unger","date":"January 18 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Review: Ella Remembered This was the title of a performance given in the Great Hall on 7 December as part of the University\u2019s International Concert Series. Few people who know anything about singing would need to ask 'Ella who?' - Ella Fitzgerald died in 1996, but more than twenty years\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "review"","block_context":{"text":"review","link":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/category\/review\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/467","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/568"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=467"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/467\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":468,"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/467\/revisions\/468"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=467"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=467"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=467"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}