Courtney Pine - Back in the Day

Background information
1. One of the most successful British jazz musicians of modern era
2. Uses modern popular styles in fusion with American jazz elements
3. 'Lady Day' pays tribute to two great 20th century jazz performers - Billie Holiday and John Coltrane
4. Hip-hop used in this album; indicative of Pine's more recent works
  1. e.g rap and turntables
5. Pine is a multi-instrumentalist and mixed the album himself
Inner State of Mind
1. Structure
  1. Instrumental intro - distorted sample of guitar music, one bar a cappella vocal phrase; saxophone instrumentation
  2. Vocal section - voice enters with main theme; rhythmic brass ensemble chords
  3. Rap section with short improvised saxophone links
  4. Second vocal section - varied vocals which dissolve into scat singing
  5. Second rap - improvisation on flute before saxophone return, occasional vocal phrases, homorhythmic tutti link
  6. Third vocal section - further varied versions of 'Summertime'; long rising saxophone glissando
  7. Outro - long improvisation on soprano saxophone
2. Harmony
  1. As in most jazz, chords based on sevenths
    1. Introduction alternates on two chords - Cm7 and Dm7
      1. They don't support the key; harmony is less functional
  2. First vocal section begins with just melody and bass (no chords)
    1. Fuller harmony returns with C7(#9) chord - common in jazz and blues, can be interpreted as seventh chord with blue note flat third and raised third on top
      1. Top D# notated as Eb
    2. When chord sequence returns it is C to F with 9th, 11th and 13th extensions (common in jazz)
      1. This continues over second rap
  3. During instrumental section there are pentatonic guitar riffs
3. Tonality
  1. Based on Dorian mode transposed to C, which features minor third and minor seventh (flat third and flat seventh)
  2. All notes are diatonic on the mode, except for blue not Gb
Lady Day
1. Structure
  1. Intro - turntable effects lead to fast tempo rock thythm and scat vocals
  2. Verse 1 - short improvised saxophone fills between phrases
  3. Verse 2 - has same music (strophic form), with additional backing vocals; saxophone phrases includes lip vibrato
    1. Lip vibrato is wobbling pitch with lips rather than breath
  4. Sax solo - pitch bend technique; very high tessitura; chromatic scales; short slides; ends with rapid descending chromatic scale
  5. Coda - singer improvises; sax provides counterpoint at much lower tessitura
  6. Verse repeated
2. Harmony
  1. Based roughly on 12-bar blues structure
    1. Standard - 4 bars I, 2 bars IV, 2 bars I, 1 bar V, 1 bar IV, 2 bars I
    2. Lady Day - 8 bars I, 4 bars IV, 4 bars I, 1 bar V, 1 bar IV
    3. Chorus then uses chords not in the original structure
  2. 12-bar blues chords are extended (C7#9) etc.
  3. Harmony altered during sax solo to form new four-chord sequence featuring Eb9 (Eb7 with F on top) and G+7 (G7 chord with aug. 5th)
  4. During coda whole tonality shifts up a semitone and back down again, before falling into IV (F) V (G) I (C) with ninths ostinato
Love and Affection
1. Structure
  1. Beginning - rubato time with no percussion; silence for 2.5 beats; rock rhythms start and bass riff (gently syncopated starts)
  2. Main section - bass riff continues with vocal phrases
  3. Middle eight with changed harmonies
  4. Main section 2 - bass riff returns with hook on version of title words; new four bar link with descending harmonies
  5. Sax solo begins with crescendo on long note
  6. Title hook returns over bass riff; texture becomes more polyphonic; voice and saxophone improvise over rhythm section chords
  7. New descending synthesised string section passage; sax solo joins in with free improvisation
2. Harmony and tonality
  1. Beginning - harmony relatively free; moving around chords contained in E scale but never E itself; rising bass line E-G#-A-B riff; with alterations such as slash chord on G# and added fourth on E
    1. After this harmony is relatively functional
  2. Middle eight - contrasting section starting with subdominant A; as with most middle eights dominant is last chord which leads back to tonic
  3. Main section 2 - four bar link where harmonies descend chromatically; voice has range of blue notes
  4. Backing singers end song on paused tonic chord (three-part)

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Courtney Pine - Back in the Day

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	Created by Harry Lewis over 9 years ago