In October 2007, London's Barbican Theater celebrated the 200th anniversary of Britain's ban on the slave trade. Saxophonist Courtney Pine was commissioned to provide the music for this commemoration. He immediately made it a double birthday by bringing together a new version of big band Jazz Warriors. Twenty years earlier, he released his first and only CD, entitled Out Of Many, One People (1987).
Pine was also one of the founders of the Jazz Warriors in the mid-1980s, with the aim of joining the forces of the African and Caribbean jazz musicians in England. The new version of the Jazz Warriors again offers a sample of the (colored) British jazz scene, with trumpet player Byron Wallen and pianist Alex Wilson as experienced musicians, in addition to a variety of emerging talents. Pine wrote most of the compositions that (just like in 1987) range from groovy jazz to African and from ska to free jazz. It was a powerful performance at the Barbican and thanks to the perfect recording we can celebrate the double anniversary at home. (HB)more
