Courtney Pine

Courtney Pine CBE (born 18 March 1964, London) is an English jazz musician. At school he studied the clarinet, although he is known primarily for his saxophone playing. Pine is a multi-instrumentalist, also playing the flute, clarinet, bass clarinet and keyboards. On his 2011 album, Europa, he plays almost exclusively bass clarinet.

In 1986 Pine's debut album Journey to the Urge Within became "the first serious jazz album ever to make the British Top 40 (significantly earning a Silver Disc), the last two decades have seen him go on to achieve considerable international acclaim. Prestigiously cracking the American jazz charts along the way, while constantly remaining an inspirational figure to many young, upcoming black British musicians".

His recent music integrates modern British music like drum and bass and UK garage with contemporary jazz styles. He runs his own band and integrates many contemporary musicians in his performances. He also presents Jazz Crusade on BBC Radio 2, the seventh series of which was broadcast during spring 2007.

In 1988 he appeared as himself in a jazz quartet in the Doctor Who serial Silver Nemesis.

Pine was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 2000, and Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2009 New Year Honours for services to jazz music. He was also awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Westminster on 6 December 2004. He was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Southampton on 15 July 2010.

Pine appeared in August 2008 as an advocate for Pierre Boulez, on the BBC World News classical music programme, Visionaries.