Bassist/vocalist’s second album ‘Nature is a Mother’ is released on 5 April 2024. It “has evolved out of a need to communicate her responses to the world around her through her maturation as a musician and bandleader. “ Interview feature by Lavender Sutton.

Bass player Charlie Pyne says playing in people’s original projects is one of her favourite things to do. As a result, she spends her time making music with all kinds of great musicians, from Ilario Ferrari to Filomena Campus to an upcoming stint with The Queen’s Cartoonists, but now she’s focusing on her own music with her second album release entitled Nature is a Mother, which has evolved out of a need to communicate her responses to the world around her through her maturation as a musician and bandleader. 

While her debut album, Dancing Shadows, acted as a way to find footing in the music world, bonding with her favourite musicians and trying to write songs that ‘fit’, this release shows Pyne finding a more intrinsic and organic way to reveal her music, writing tunes as an expression of moments in time in her recent life experiences.

Pyne grew up in a very creative family with a saxophonist dad and pianist mum, and was making music from a young age. About her writing process, she says “I always go for melodies and a song-like quality when I’m writing music, and work out the harmony academically afterwards. I quite often compose when I’m out walking, so record snippets on my phone then transcribe it at a later date. I can hear the harmony in my mind, then have to go to the piano to work out the best way to communicate these ideas to the band”.

Working alongside her partner, saxophonist Luke Pinkstone, adds an extra dimension of empathy to the band’s dynamic. Pyne has written tunes with Pinkstone in mind, with tight rhythmic unison passages doubled on vocals and saxophone on Sisters, a hymn-like duet on bowed double bass and tenor sax on Gratitude, and featuring his beautiful soprano sax playing on Blackberries, a folk-jazz celebration of the changing of the seasons.

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Pyne’s relationship with the other two musicians is a special one too. She and Katie Patterson found friendship and musical likeness early on after meeting. “Katie is amazing, she does more homework for every gig than anyone I have ever met and I do more homework when I’m on gigs with her. She’s an awesome drummer, very creative but also has all of the groove.” Patterson even has a tune written for her on the new album entitled KP’s Parrot. 

Pianist Liam Dunachie is the other musician featured on both her debut and this new recording. Pyne’s words were short and sweet, “Liam is a genius.” She reflected on working together more since the first recording. “[The band are] a unit now, and we play together so much [more now] that it gels.”

The narrative of Nature is a Mother wasn’t present from the start, but when filling in the last few compositions, Pyne realised that some of the themes had come out of her experience as a female in the industry. A Fistful of Keys was a visceral reaction to the #MeToo Movement when realising that “The boys didn’t know…[that some women walk home at night with their keys pointing between their fingers for protection.]” Pyne’s passionate response to this feeling has also grown since she became a mother and has written songs like Solstice, for her son, born on the summer solstice, Nature is a Mother – that “fleeting feeling when the baby is fed, changed, clean and asleep, the house is tidy, you’ve done some sort of exercise, showered, brushed your teeth and feel like an absolute goddess.” and even Gratitude, a wordless reflection written for her own mother.

Expect lots of interesting grooves, influenced by her upbringing listening to lots of Cuban music as well as early career highlights, playing with Omar Puente’s Puente’s salsa band at Trinity College of Music and listening to the likes of Kenny Wheeler and Bobo Stenson. 

Pyne shared how this album feels like her own perspective, not very cryptic but more confident “Here I am!” The first track is out now and her tour started on 4 March with a sold out show at Pizza Express Dean Street. There are plenty of chances to see and hear Charlie Pyne’s new perspective ahead. 

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TOUR DATES FOR CHARLIE PYNE QUARTET

3 April 2024 The Lescar, Sheffield

16 May 2024 Nutshell Arts Centre, Winchester

19 May 2024 The Rifle, Oxhey Village / Watford Jazz Junction

7 June 2024 Charlie Pyne Quartet at 1000 Trades Birmingham

LINKS: Charlie Pyne’s website
Buy ‘Nature is a Mother’ on Bandcamp