Courtney Pine, on a Selmer Privilege Bass Clarinet, and Zoe Rahman, on the Churches magnificent grand piano, came together for a special performance in the angelic acoustics of St Georges Church. Courtney’s forthcoming album, Song (The Ballad Book), is perfectly complimented by Zoe Rahman’s unique style and steps away from his usual funky feel good jazz towards a deeper and expressive piece. Courtney Pine is best known as Saxophonist and clarinettist, first finding success in the jazz world with a 1986 album Journey to the Urge which charted in the UK Top 40 and went on to be awarded an OBE (2000) and then a CBE (2007) for services to jazz music. Zoe Rahman has firmly established herself as one of the brightest stars in the contemporary jazz scene, with her second album Melting Pot (2006) being nominated for a Mercury Music Prize.

Courtney and Zoe came on stage and immediately launched into the first song. This was definitely a big hello to the excited and expectant audience as the pair instantly hit them with their quality. It was a powerful start affirming their statuses as modern day jazz legends; Zoe playing in a light and measured way whilst Courtney was more frantic and playful. After the first song Courtney introduced themselves to the audience with lots of humour. Catching a hard-core fan recording the performance by the side of the stage with their iPhone 5, he joked “You can only film if you have an iPhone 6”. This elicited a short rant about how you can now see most live performances somewhere on the internet, and how back in the day the audience would be experiencing a unique live show that was just for their eyes and ears. Sobering words, and how nice it would be, to be in an audience of people absorbed in the music rather than capturing the moment for prosperity and missing the live experience. They then went on to play a fantastic version of Chaka Khan’s ‘Through the Fire’ (sampled on Kanye West’s ‘Through The Wire’), which featured an audacious middle section by Zoe whilst Courtney played in tow with buckets of passion. He finished the song with an impressive Turkish/Moroccan styled solo that turned into a more Avant-Jazz style. The music then took a more mellow direction with a version of the Michel Legrand classic ‘The Windmills of Your Mind’, which was dramatic in parts but always beautiful. Zoe stole the audiences’ hearts just before the interval, showcasing a masterclass in jazz piano with a spectacular version of Thad Jones’ ‘A Child Is Born’.

The crowd were in awe. Every little tweak to Courtney’s intricate play had the crowd gasping with admiration. They were spellbound, laughing at everything thing he said. Although there was barely a reaction to any of Courtney’s musical innuendos, maybe due to the demographic or maybe it was the fact we were in a church, but I definitely found them funny.

‘A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square’ started the second half of the show, with its peculiar intro. Squeaky clarinet and light high pitched piano welcomed the audience back into a light hearted song full of a sexy swagger. Without pause the duo head straight into an uplifting ‘Amazing Grace’. This rendition was full of space and gathered an ever more questioning tone, turning at one point into what sounded licks of ‘St. James Infirmary Blues’ putting Courtney into a sweat as he howled raw emotion through his clarinet. He appeared to lightly stumble as he finished the final note after what was an outstanding and obviously draining performance. Zoe soon brought back a smile to his face with a delightful solo cover of ‘One Last Cry’ by Brian McKnight with Courtney incorporated the tunes of Peter & The Wolf and Dr Who which thrilled the audience. Zoe again stole the show at the end, excelling in an excellent rendition of ‘Someday We’ll All Be Free’ by Donny Hathaway. Courtney created a comical end to the song by drawing out the outro and finishing short by saying “Nah”. Rapturous applause rocked the rafters until the pair returned to the stage for a super positive encore with the crowd clapping along in unison.

At the beginning Courtney said “Excuse us if we try a little”, and that they certainly did. It was a phenomenal performance from them both, confirming why they are regarded as masters of their art. Zoe was impressive and faultless in my eyes whilst Courtney just about showed you everything you can do with a bass clarinet.

Iain Lauder

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