Courtney Pine "Modern Day Jazz Stories" (1995 Verve)

1. Prelude - The Water of Life/2. The 37th Chamber/3. Don't 'Xplain/4. Dah Blessing/5. In the Garden of Eden (Thinking Inside of You)/6. Creation Stepper/7. Absolution/8. Each One (Must) Teach One/9. The Unknown Warrior (Song for My Forefathers)/10. I've Know Rivers/11. Outro - Guiding Light/Total time 59:09

I'm partial to Courtney's acoustic quartet here, so I've skipped over the "smooth-jazz" compositions (1, 2, 3, 8) which I can't really stomach. The other recordings are excellent. I'll start with Dah Blessing (#4). His tenor is strong as ever. He's working with two of my favorite rhythm providers, Charnett Moffett on bass and Geri Allen on piano. They are also part of Ornette Coleman's section for his acoustic quartet. #6 sounds like Pharoah Sanders "Out of this World" and has a classic Coltrane quartet sound. It's very rhythmic. #7 Has African undertones and again, reminiscent of 'trane, Courtney is on soprano sax. #8 is a mid-tempo jazz ballad. Beautiful piano playing by Allen #5 is kind of folky with Mark Whitfield on acoustic guitar. Overall I like the recording, an excellent mixture of the real sounds of "Modern Day Jazz".