On his last album, Europa, in 2011, Courtney Pine channelled all his energy into the bass clarinet. Both on the record and hearing the music live in concert, you got the sense that he was testing what could be done with the instrument at every level. This included increasing its range from stomach-wrenching basso profundo to bat squeak, and finding tonalities that could caress or confront with equal effectiveness.

Now, however, on House of Legends, his new album released this month, Courtney has devoted himself entirely to what many reed players regard as the most demanding instrument of all, the soprano saxophone. In a shimmering, extrovert Caribbean setting, the horn skirls and swirls through a variety of textures and tests that, if anything, are even tougher than those he set himself for the bass clarinet. But he’s happy to raise his game to achieve some of the most accomplished playing of his career.

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