Chris Potter Quartet: Lift "Live at The Village Vanguard" (2002)

Chris Potter Quartet:
Lift "Live at The Village Vanguard" (2002)

Just as you're about to really get into tenor saxophonist Chris Potter's funky unaccompanied solo on "7.5," the rest of the band charges in, led by Kevin Hays on an electric keyboard sounding like a ringing cell phone. It grabs your attention, and the band doesn't let go for the next fifteen minutes, with Hays soloing commandingly on piano, and Potter and the song's composer, drummer Bill Stewart, duetting in gripping, telepathic fashion. Stewart carries on with bassist Scott Colley before Potter returns, shadowed by Hays' touch tones.

Colley propels "What You Wish" as Potter lays line on top of line, intensifying the composition as he follows each idea. As the piece continues, Hays takes his turn, generating as much momentum as Potter before him. Potter starts "Stella by Starlight" with a delicate reading, the atmosphere handled by Stewart's continuous brushing, Colley's solid bass, and Hays' piano flourishes, before he opens his heart and gets strong supportive backing from the band.

The title track is complex, shifting among tempos and soloists so that it's three or four tunes in one. By the end, the band is in a race to the finish line, until they cross it and restate the melody to cool down. The lovely "Okinawa" features Potter's soprano and a minimalist piano solo echoed by Hays' simultaneous keyboard. The effect is ethereal and graceful, suggestive of a Japanese koto.

The program closes with a version of Mingus' "Boogie Stop Shuffle" in two parts. The first, a solo intro, puts Potter's round tone on display in a cascade of notes before finally taking aim at the melody, and the band joins in to swing the tune like it was meant to be swung. To tackle Mingus without a big band, you need a band that sounds big, and with Hays doubling on electric and acoustic keys, together with the hard swing of Stewart and Colley, the quartet manages to sound twice its size.

Track Listing: 

1 7.5 14:57 

2 What You Wish 13:51 

3 Stella by Starlight 7:16 

4 Lift 11:58 

5 Okinawa 9:15 

6 Boogie Stop Shuffle Sax Intro 4:13 

7 Boogie Stop Shuffle 15:09

Personnel: Scott Colley: Bass; Kevin Hays: Piano, Fender Rhodes;Bill Stewart, Drums; Chris Potter: Tenor Sax.

Chris Potter: Gratitude (2001)

Chris Potter : Gratitude (2001)

Chris Potter is probably the second most famous young tenor player working today, Joshua Redman being the clear numero uno. After releasing over a half-dozen albums for Criss Cross and Concord, Potter now makes the leap to a major label, Verve, with the excellent Gratitude.

Jazz is a lethargic sales category, so major labels often like jazz artists to do concept albums — usually tributes to legends both living and dead — to attract the attention of otherwise indifferent consumers. But tributes often seem self-conscious and forced, stultifying the artist’s individual voice by imposing an artificial agenda upon it. Happily, Gratitude escapes this fate. It’s a generalized tribute, an acknowledgement of saxophone greats (eleven of them, to be exact) who have influenced Potter and continue to do so. (McCoy Tyner made a similar gesture with Jazz Roots. ) The idea seems to flow naturally from Potter’s artistic self-image, and so it serves him well.

Rather than clutter the record with guest artists and the like, producer Jason Olaine wisely has Potter sticking with a quartet all the way through. And as quartets go, this one couldn’t be more burning — joining the saxophonist are Kevin Hays on piano and Rhodes (sounding better than ever), Scott Colley on bass, and Brian Blade on drums. The group focuses on Potter’s originals for an unbroken stretch of nine tracks, beginning with the Coltrane dedication "The Source," cleverly based on "Mr. Day" blues changes. Not until late in the program does Potter start to tackle standards, and when he does, it’s with an unconventional flair. He interprets "Body and Soul" on bass clarinet, in duo with Colley — a nice update on the version found on 1995’s Sundiata (Criss Cross). He plays alto, fittingly, on the Bird tribute "Star Eyes," with Hays laying out. And he closes the album with a solo tenor reading of "What’s New?", intending the title as a double entendre, a rhetorical question about the prospects for innovation among the current generation of jazz artists. Sandwiched between these standards is the original "Vox Humana," a tribute to Ornette Coleman, on which Potter plays a Chinese wood flute — one among many creative breakthroughs on this refined, rewarding disc.

1-Source, The (For John Coltrane) 6:36

2-Shadow (For Joe Henderson) 5:47  

3-Sun King (For Sonny Rollins)                  7:00

4-High Noon (For Eddie Harris) 8:19

5-Eurydice (For Wayne Shorter) 6:00  

6-Mind's Eye Intro 0:44

7-Mind's Eye, The (For Michael Brecker and Joe Lovano) 7:14

8-Gratitude 3:05

9-Visitor, The (For Lester Young) 7:39

10-Body And Soul 5:29  

11-Star Eyes (For Charlie Parker) 5:22  

12-Vox Humana (For Ornette Coleman) 5:24

13-What's New (For the Current Generation)  2:23

Personnel: Chris Potter, tenor, alto, and soprano saxes, bass clarinet, alto flute, Chinese wood flute; Kevin Hays, piano, Fender Rhodes; Scott Colley, bass; Brian Blade, drums