Courtney Pine has been setting crowds jumping for so long that his subtler sensitivities have often been consigned to the back seat – so this duo set of classic and contemporary ballads, with Pine on bass clarinet and Zoe Rahman on piano, is a revelation. Set pieces like Amazing Grace and A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square are here, but so are contemporary slow-burners such as the Chaka Khan’s Through the Fire and Donny Hathaway’s Someday We’ll All Be Free, both of which draw soulfully poignant variations from Pine’s horn. The hook of Sam Rivers’ Beatrice is buoyed up by Rahman’s sleek arpeggios and gentle swing, and Amazing Grace is handled with an almost awed respect. One Last Cry has a hymnal feel, and A Nightingale Sang is unfolded in the bass clarinet’s mid-range, before a swinging section brings in some of the album’s most inventive melodic improvisations. Song (The Ballad Book) is a real musical dialogue, and a vote of thanks for a selection of timeless music.
