Courtney Pine

小简介
20世纪初年，早期爵士乐一直是歌台舞榭的娱乐音乐，从纽奥良红灯区的小型乐队到纽约、芝加哥夜总会里的摇摆大乐团，在美国，乃至于全世界很多地方，有很长一段时间，最流行的舞曲，都是爵士乐。直到40年代之后，以咆勃爵士为代表的现代爵士乐兴起，尽管百花齐放、百家争鸣，大致上主流爵士乐却是朝向严肃精致的方向前进，60年代之后，摇滚乐大行其道，迪斯科兴起之后，各大都会区的舞池里，也完全不再有爵士乐的声音，状况发展对爵士乐来说日趋不利，70、80年代，爵士乐衰退到谷底，乐手不是远赴欧洲、日本讨生活，就是改行玩流行音乐、或者去帮电影作配乐，不然，只得离开音乐圈，这等惨状，一直到80年代末期，才逐渐改善，爵士乐渐渐复兴，重新取得美国真正原创艺术的定位，杰出的爵士乐手们，也成了文化明星，爵士乐似乎成了美国国宝。但是谈到爵士乐与舞曲的关连，要等到这个世纪接近尾声，才有另外一种所谓《酸性爵士》出现，把听众拉回舞池，或者说，让舞池里的人们听到一部份爵士乐，在此，我们先讲这其中顶重要的一个人，寇特尼派恩。
1994那一年，爵士乐评论界喜欢讲的是:《萨克斯风手寇特尼派恩已经三十岁了，应该已经达到成熟的音乐境地，派恩的技艺与视野，足以带领爵士乐进入下一个未知的世纪......》之类的话。
如果成熟意味着继续焠炼固有的风格直到炉火纯青的境地，我只能说，这两年来，英国佬寇特尼派恩是越来越《不成熟》了！
20岁出头录制了自己第一张个人专辑，派恩令人惊艳的表现，在短短的时间内夺取了乐评与听众的喜爱，成为欧美媒体上众所注目的《明日大师》，尽管身为当今爵士乐界最好的几个萨克斯风手之一，远在英伦的派恩却显然对90年代风行美国以复兴爵士乐传统为职志的新古典主义没什么兴趣，他要的是别的东西。这个英国黑人小伙子，打算在爵士乐五花八门的缤纷脉络中，找出一条没有人走过的道路。
1997年，派恩推出专辑《地下会社Underground》，网罗了尼可拉斯裴顿Nicholas Payton、赛洛却斯纳Cyrus Chestnut等等新生代一流爵士乐手，乍看之下，彷佛这音乐将是正统爵士乐的发扬，眼尖的爵士迷，却会在乐手阵容里发现一个全然荒谬的人名和乐器: DJ Pogo / Turntables！
找来一个DJ搞特效混音？！派恩以为自己是Massive Attack还是4 Hero？！
派恩回忆当时的录音情况说:《裴顿、却斯纳等几位乐手从来没有在这样的搭配下玩过音乐，DJ Pogo第一次磨起唱片的时候，他们都很受不了，要等听到我如何跟DJ特效作互动即兴之后，他们才有办法接受这样的音乐概念。》
岂止和DJ互动即兴，以爵士乐的标准来看，这张专辑搞怪的地方多了，第一曲《Inhale》，竟然是把专辑里其它十一首歌的片段Mix在一起，来个试听目录。而且，即使找来杰夫瓦特Jeff "Tain" Watts这样一等一的爵士鼓手，整张专辑里仍然充斥drum machine的声音。派恩也在专辑里大量使用取样机，把各式各样的人声、环境声，甚至电动玩具《快打旋风》的音效都sampled进来，大搞其声音游戏。
可是这张唱片里的音乐好听吗？
好听，应该说，好听的不得了，派恩不愧是当今最具旋律性的爵士乐手，每一段旋律都美得让人心神激荡，如果把他的声音独立出来，会得到不逊于当今任何乐手的精彩萨克斯风吹奏，旋律、节奏、音色，甚至与乐曲中千奇百怪的声音之间的搭配，都无懈可击，把他的声音放在这样现代感十足的结构中，似乎提醒了我们，生活中随处可以找到声音的天堂，就好象他自己说的:《寻找音乐灵感，就像是红灯时停在车阵中，左右车辆的音响会传来不同的音乐，所有的声音都会对我有影响，如果我只是把车窗关起来，在车子里大声唱自己的歌，岂不是太脱离现实了？！》
到了他的最新专辑《另一个故事Another Story》，派恩先生越玩越过火，所有爵士乐迷简直无言以对，12首曲子里，派恩没有重新演奏任何音乐，就把以前《地下会社》和《现代爵士故事Modern Day Jazz Story》专辑里的曲子拿来重新混音，4 Hero、Roni Size、Flytronix等等玩Drum'n'Bass、Rave/Hardcore......的电子音乐工作者为派恩跨刀混音，每一位DJ都做出了属于他们自己的独特风格，就这样，问题来了，我们该把这张唱片当成电子舞曲，还是爵士乐？这是4 Hero他们的音乐？还是派恩的作品？
如果这是别人的创作，比如说90年代初期以一首《Cantaloop》大受欢迎的US3乐团，大概还没有什么关系，毕竟，US3他们一出道就采用这种酸性爵士的手法，听众大都能以欣赏舞曲的态度轻松欣赏。派恩可不一样，他出道江湖之初，被视为萨克斯风传统的大师接班人，在爵士乐界的份量与知名的青年小喇叭手温顿马沙利斯Wynton Marsalis并驾齐驱，这样说好了，马沙利斯被评论界认定是新古典爵士的领航旗手，早已荣任纽约林肯中心爵士乐总监，成为官方版的美国爵士乐祭酒，与他同级的派恩，居然一头栽进年轻人放浪玩乐的电子舞曲里！
我觉得，这，也什么不可以的！
黑胶唱盘只是一项乐器，DJ是演奏这项乐器的人，Drum Machine、取样器、计算机也都是乐器，Trip-Hop、Techno......等等等只是不同的音乐风格，从爵士乐历史上看来，不同乐风元素的混合交流本来就是天经地义，只是爵士乐迷一时之间还转不过来罢了。先不讲电子舞曲与爵士乐融合的这所谓酸性爵士，爵士乐由欧洲古典乐与非洲音乐融合发轫，一百年来，在不同的过程阶段里，融合了蓝调、福音歌曲、灵魂、拉丁、放克、摇滚、现代音乐、印度以及世界各地民族音乐、......，一部爵士乐历史，就是不断的融合变化，走出自己的风格，爵士乐既然曾经吸收过吉米汉醉克斯Jimi Hendrix的狂暴风格，今天又何必担心4 Hero等人会有什么不良影响?等着看吧，说不定这才是一条新的康庄大道！
《另一个故事》这张专辑，其实真的叙述了另一个故事:电子音乐经过十多年的发展，已经渐渐受到广大听众的欢迎，从某种角度看来，电子音乐是一种更平民化，更解放的音乐，你不再需要苦练几十年吉他或钢琴才有可能成为伟大的音乐家，只要有混音器加上计算机，自家的卧室也可以成就了不起的音乐。比如说，根据传统的标准，Roni Size没有能耐和派恩、杰夫瓦特这些人一起玩爵士乐，但是事实上，他却以混音师、DJ的身分，以他自己的概念，主导了音乐的构成，这不是很有趣吗？
by Thom Jurek
Courtney Pine is perhaps the most enigmatic of late 20th century British jazzmen; he has consistently fascinated and frustrated critics with a restless and adventurous musical vision that has brought world music, pop, reggae, electronica, funk, and soul to sit in with the jazz tradition on his recordings. Born in March 1964, Pine spent his youth in London, learning to play multiple instruments, including saxophone (he is proficient on tenor, soprano, and baritone), clarinet, flute, and a host of keyboard instruments. He cut his jazz teeth with the hard bopping Dwarf Steps, before leaving to tour and record with reggae stars General Saint and Clint Eastwood. Pine went back to the jazz root, studying Sonny Rollins and John Coltranes improvising styles while participating in drummer John Stevens jazz workshops before he became a part-time member of the Charlie Watts Orchestra. Pine left to tour with both George Russell and Art Blakeys Jazz Messengers before recording his debut album, Journey to the Urge Within for Antilles. That disc propelled Pine into the public consciousness with its U.K. Top Ten smash Children of the Ghetto. The album was also reviewed favorably in the U.S. and sold respectably.
Pine remained with Antilles through 1992, issuing four more albums with the label, 1987s Destinys Song + the Image of Pursuance, 1989s The Visions Tale, Within the Realms of Our Dreams in 1990, and his first reggae outing, Closer to Home, in 1992. Throughout the early 90s Pine also guested with U.K. soul chanteuse Mica Paris. Also during 1992, Pine signed with the 4th and Broadway label and issued the revolutionary To the Eyes of Creation, which fully engaged his myriad interests in African and East and West Indian musics and melded them with jazz improvisation. Eyes of Creation, Pines live album, was released by Island in 1995, just prior to his signing with Verve.
While with Verve, Pine issued his first complete jazz outing in Modern Day Jazz Stories, recorded with an American band that included Geri Allen, Mark Whitfield, Eddie Henderson, and Charnett Moffett, and featured vocals by Cassandra Wilson and the Angelic Voices of Faith. Jazz purists were almost delighted, and hoped Pine would now stay put in the bosom of tradition so they could laud him as the new Coltrane. Pine frustrated them by employing hip-hop turntablism on 1997s Underground, which included drum and soundscape programming alongside DJs and a band that included Jeff Watts, Whitfield, Reggie Veal, Nicholas Payton, and Cyrus Chestnut. Pine pulled another rabbit out of the hat for 1998s Another Story, issued by Talkin Loud, wherein he invited a host of electronicas finest DJs — Roni Size and Attica Blues among them — to remix tracks from Modern Day Jazz Stories and Underground as drumnbass crossovers. It was his last record of the 20th century.
Pine issued another award winner with Back in the Day in 2000; it was a modern tribute to the funky soul-jazz and Afro-funk sounds of Gary Bartz, Fela, Manu Dibango, Eddie Harris, Idris Muhammad, and Bernard Purdie, all of whom were a big part of his musical development in the 1970s. His all-British band was augmented by guests and DJ Pogo. It was his first recording not to be simultaneously released in the United States. Pine scored the two-part BBC documentary Nelson Mandela: The Living Legend, which aired in 2003, and released Devotion at the end of the year in Great Britain and in July 2004 on the Telarc label in the U.S. Once more Pine nailed together disparate harmonic, rhythmic, and dynamic elements from Africa, the Caribbean, jazz, soul, and Indian musics, taking his adventurous discourse into new and previously uncharted territory on his most satisfying project to date.