Cheap Back in the Day (Music) (Courtney Pine) Price

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Customer Reviews of Back in the Day

Some may say that Courtney's music isn't Jazz in the traditional sense, and to be fair to his detractors....they are right to some degree. But what Courtney is trying to do isn't so much replicate vintage jazz for new audiences, but fuse other elements of urban contemporary music with Jazz composition (Soul, Hip-Hop, Rhythm & Blues), and produce something decidedly more upbeat.

Focusing on this side of Courtney's music, with Sampling, turntable Trickery, and a raft of guest vocalists to give his sound a direction, Individuality & widespread appeal, especially to those who think Jazz is 'uninteresting', plus innovative within the genre. This album captures his incredible London nights, and its very much a noisy, brash, wonderfully freewheeling and ambitious album, much in the same vein as his Exuberant gigs. Some of the tracks feature Soul / R&B vocalists that provide the vocal template for which Courtney springboards his deft Sax skills with the help of his seven piece band. So what tends to happen is that it feels more like a live gig recording (not in terms of sound quality, more in variety of performances featured), and Courtney seems to amply provide each vocalist with a very strong musical background to give their performances extra impact.

Although to say that this is purely vocal driven album is not the case......and several of the tracks featured are purely instrumental and give Courtney & his band, enough room to show the listeners exactly why they bought the album in the first place, and prevents things from becoming overly commercial. Their perfromances throughout are in a word....Brilliant, and although it can't quite match the sheer joy of seeing him live, this is the closest many will come to hearing why he has such a devoted (albeit small) following. In fact if you want a similar comparison to this kind of album, then "Guru's" Sublime "Jazzmatzz Vol 1" & "Streetsoul" albums prove to do much of what Courtney is trying to do here (minus Guru's Rapping). But don't think that this is a mere pastiche of the aforementioned albums, as 'Back in the Day' has enough ideas, Incredible improvisation, innovation, and beautiful vocal performances, to more than stand out on its own right. And the cover version of "Joan Armatrading's - Love & Affectinon" is a truly breathtaking moment. Courtney has a few albums under his name, and deciding which one to go for can be confusing. this is largely considered to be his careers best, and the majority of his fans mostly have this album. And although he may never quite get the Recognition that he truly deserves, this is an outstanding album in its own right, and if you have a passing interest in his work I strongly urge you to seek out this fantastic album.

Sexy Sax
Courtney Pine the master of stage presence and the live experience, a legend and jazz ambassador is absolutely stunning!! That the American's haven't discovered his talent is a tragedy too profound for words but good news for us Brits because Courtney IS British Jazz! Exciting and innovative he gives a dazzling performance effortlessly and has done much to make jazz palatable for a growing younger audience. This album released September 2000 is by no means an exception. Courtney, originally from a reggae background first began to make folks sit up and take notice in the mid eighties and by the time he played at the Bath Festival with the Orchestre National de Jazz in 1987 things were already moving. His first release broke records by jazz standards and in 1996 his album "Modern Day Jazz Stories" was nominated for the prestigious Mercury Music Prize. And so the scene is set for giving the uninitiated a flavour for what is to come in this album. Courtney, not one to sit still and with a career spanning many musical genres is always surprising. The opening moments of this album is definitely not what you would expect but I love his use of intros and outros. It does however have a softer edge than some of his earlier releases and is especially evident when you have had the good fortune to experience his live performance. Here is a man capable of raising the roof and whipping an audience into an ecstatic frenzy. I haven't seen an artist who can blow full whammy out of a sax for as long as he can and not come up for air - absolutely unbelievable!! My personal favs on this album is the Intro - Search, Brotherman and Keep It Real.

In essence, wonderful heady stuff !!