Piano-player Willem Kühne says, “His music contains all sorts of homemade anomalies; he hasn’t been inhibited by all sorts of studies. Improvising on his music, we discover completely different things than we would playing standards. Sometimes these pieces really surprise us: I really respect his composing for that. You can’t sing along with his lines, but when you hear one, it’s immediately recognizable as his. That’s where his musicality really comes out.”
CD “Révocation, the Pierre Courbois 5/4 sextet live at the Bimhuis” – DBCHR75369
Pianist Willem Kühne, jarenlang vertrouweling van Courbois, zei ooit over diens composities: “Zij vormen een prachtige lijst waarbinnen jazzmuzikanten hun schilderijen kunnen maken.”
Met ranzig bezwete lijven,
doen we het in vijven.
Als de duivel de mensen in vieren kooit,
wed ik, dan vindt hij ons nooit!
— Willem Kühne