Courtney Pine is to receive an honorary degree from the University of Southampton today to recognise his services to music. Pine, who is currently playing a series of shows in the UK to promote his latest album Transition in Tradition, accepted a lifetime achievement award at the 2009 Brecon Jazz Festival, a year in which he was also awarded the CBE. This will be his second honorary degree, with the University of Westminster awarding him a doctorate in 2004.

The saxophonist’s work in the British scene cannot be underestimated, frequently incorporating hip-hop, electronica and reggae into his sound. He was also a part of the Jazz Warriors in the mid-1980s, which he reformed more recently producing live album Afropeans released in 2008, an album recorded the year before to mark the bicentenary of the Slave Trade Act, the legislation which abolished the slave trade in the British Empire.

Pine will receive the honorary degree of Doctor of Music at the Turner Sims Concert Hall in Southampton, where he will also be playing on 3 December as part of the venue’s autumn line-up.

– James Bourne