Archive for the ‘Chris Potter’ Category
Dave Holland Octet: Pathways (2010 – Dare2 Records)
As a happy medium between the smaller, lither quintet and its more expansive big band cousin, the Dave Holland Octet has toured occasionally over the past several years, making a formal release long overdue. Recorded live at New York’s Birdland at the beginning of 2009, Pathways also bucks Holland’s recent trend with a set list culled largely from the past, but with updated arrangements that take advantage of both the ensemble firepower and solo acumen of additional members Antonio Hart (alto saxophone), Alex Sipiagin (trumpet) and Gary Smulyan (baritone sax)—all members of the Dave Holland Big Band and a larger musical family to which the veteran bassist has been consistently loyal over the past decade.
While the modal “Shadow Dance” has been a part of Holland’s repertoire since Jumpin’ In (ECM, 1984), with the bassist’s chordless, horn-driven quintet of the 1980s, it has never grooved quite this hard, thanks to Smith’s ability to be simultaneously frenetic and in the pocket. Nelson’s marimba adds a new dimension to a familiar track that features a lengthy, painstakingly built and ultimately climactic solo from Hart that ratchets up even higher when Holland, Smith and Nelson kick into high gear. Nelson has played “Ebb and Flo” before, on the 1996 ECM quartet date, Dream of the Elders, but with four horns to push the melody and provide egging-on support for its soloists—Eubanks, Holland and Potter’s particularly incendiary tenor spot—Holland’s new, Latin-esque arrangement burns even brighter.
Holland’s larger ensemble arrangement of the riff-driven “How’s Never?”—originally heard in the guitar-centric context of his egalitarian Gateway trio with John Abercrombie and drummer Jack DeJohnette—is intriguing. Even more so is “Blue Jean,” originally a Latin ballad on his World Trio (Intuition, 1995) date with acoustic guitarist (and Robin’s brother) Kevin Eubanks and percussionist Mino Cinelu. Here, in a significantly extended version, it is still a minor-keyed blues ballad, but Holland’s lush, Gil Evans-like horn arrangement creates an expansive context for a Potter’s soulful tenor solo, as he liberally quotes the classic “The Shadow of Your Smile” before passing the baton to Sipiagin, whose flugelhorn solo is a combination of serpentine virtuosity and deeply rooted lyricism.
Despite a preponderance of older material, also including Sipiagin’s knotty, Brazilian-tinged “Wind Dance”—first heard on the trumpeter’s Out of the Circle (ArtistShare, 2007) and, like the original, with vibrant solos from both Sipiagin and Eubanks—there’s new material, too. The set opens with Holland’s 11-minute title track, another Afro-Cuban, modal workout that gives Smulyan an early chance to shine with a solo that swings hard as it weaves new melodies through Holland’s slowly unfolding changes. A lithe yet muscular bass solo leads to a tarter turn for Sipiagin (this time on trumpet) which, as it evolves, reaches into the stratosphere without ever turning brash or harsh. Potter turns to soprano on his own “Sea of Marmara,” a gentle, atmospheric track made all the more ethereal by Nelson’s shimmering vibes and an early segment where lines are passed around the horns like a tag team, but which, like most tracks on Pathways, turns high octane once the solos begin.
John Kelman (All About Jazz)
Original Release Date: 2010 – Label: Dare2 Records
Adam Rogers: Allegory (2003 – Criss Cross )
Jazz used to be a form of popular music, and indeed a folk music in its own right, before bebop intellectualized it and hard bop institutionalized it. That was a sad development in a way because the music drifted away from the public and ended up holed up in a tiny “art music” niche. When free jazz hit in the ’60s, there was no mistaking that jazz would never really go back.
Guitarist Adam Rogers is committed to making serious music for serious listeners. His debut, Art of the Invisible (Criss Cross, 2002), brought an already active sideman to the full attention of the jazz world, and the new quintet disc Allegory offers music of a similarly high caliber. Rogers is a traditionalist in every sense, whether it be in his playing, his group concept, or his compositions (all originals here), but the state of the jazz tradition is an advanced one indeed at this point. Modern jazz, as a category or just a plain description, works as good as any when it comes to describing Allegory.
Rogers paces his compositions. “Genghis” works through arranged melodic phrases (mostly consisting of his instrument placed carefully alongside Chris Potter’s tenor sax), loose reunions (more flexible and open), and explicit soloing (Rogers swinging bumpily along, almost funky but not quite there). He makes a conscious use of different meters: three, four, five, six, and seven are all featured on the record, sometimes in the same piece. The band sticks together through the changes, hiding them away and maintaining forward motion. “Orpheus” goes from six to seven and back, taking advantage of Rogers’ switch to nylon to reinforce a pensive mood before the piece shifts to a higher gear.
Other than Rogers, the most forward voices on this record belong to saxophonist Chris Potter and bassist Scott Colley. Potter is responsible for most of the edgy feel when the music turns energetic, and Colley has a way of judiciously placing notes into various situations in order to round out harmonies and anchor the music.
The very same seriousness that gives Allegory its heft ironically subtracts from its effectiveness. Melodies are so focused that they rarely stick in your mind, the various changes in the music are abstract beyond ready comprehension, and the playing is so under control that it never really flies free. (Chris Potter provides just about all of the exceptions.)
I guess Adam Rogers has become too sophisticated for his own good. He’s obviously talented in just about every respect, but I just wish he would loosen up and get a little closer to the real roots of the music, a place where regular people can pick up the message without putting on a heavy thinking cap and listening over and over again. Could just be me…
Nils Jacobson (All About Jazz)
1. Confluence
2. Phrygia
3. Was
4. Genghis;
5. Angle of Repose;
6. Orpheus;
7. Red Leaves;
8. Cleveland;
9. Purpose;
10. Angle of Repose –
11. Reprise.
Personnel:
Adam Rogers (guitar)
Chris Potter: (tenor saxophone)
Edward Simon: (piano)
Scott Colley: (bass)
Clarence Penn: (drums)
Original Release Date: September 23, 2003 – Label: Criss Cross
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Enrico Pieranunzi: Fellini Jazz (2003 – Camjazz)
The elegance that is Fellini Jazz serves as a tribute to both the great director and this assembly of musicians.
Italian pianist Enrico Pieranunzi continues to make make dream recordings that are so much more than all-star get togethers. This release follows two stellar sessions, Plays Morricone and Current Conditions (both on CAM Jazz), with bassist Marc Johnson and drummer Joey Baron.
Think of Fellini and the name that follows is Nino Rota, who composed music for the director’s films and also Coppola’s Godfather series. Rota draws inspiration from all music to form his unique brand of folk music. This band measures out the composer’s vision in satisfying portions.
Besides the pianist, the attention-grabbing performances come from trumpeter Kenny Wheeler and saxophonist Chris Potter. Potter a mainstay in Dave Holland’s band, has full command of his horn at the tender age of 31. He tends toward a gentle but large voice, for example covering the ballad “Il Bidone” like fresh syrup over warm pancakes. The two versions of that particular track are done in the form of a ballad and a post-bop workout. Wheeler’s flugelhorn complements Potter with remarkable telepathy. His muted trumpet fills the tango of “La Città Delle Donne” as well as the railroad-patterned version of “La Dolce Vita.”
Pieranunzi finds it almost second nature to be partnered with drummer Paul Motian and bassist Charlie Haden. Motian, who played with Bill Evans, keeps that open, loose rhythm swirling behind Pieranunzi’s Evans-like clean vision. Haden and the pianist close the record with a sentimental duo of a Pieranunzi bitter/sweet original that could be the end piece to a “love found/love lost” movie.
The band keeps the music in the forefront here. They play the circus theme version of “La Dolce Vita” with a straight-face, Pieranunzi ringing in the track by comping around Potter’s soprano flight. The favorite always is the composition “Amarcord.” Played as a blues, it reveals Fellini’s bittersweet cinematic themes.
This is a sensational recording, worthy of its subject matter and its superb cast.
Mark Corroto (All About Jazz)
Enrico Pieranunzi (piano)
Kenny Wheeler (trumpet)
Chris Potter (saxes)
Paul Motian (drums)
Track List:
2. Il Bidone,
3. Il Bidone;
4. La Città Delle Donne;
5. Amarcord;
6. Cabiria’s Dream;
7. La Dolce Vita;
8. La Dolce Vita;
9. La Strada;
10. Le Notti Di Cabiria;
11. Fellini’s Waltz.
Original Release Date: November 25, 2003 – Label: Camjazz
Chris Potter’s Underground – Ultrahang (2009 – ArtistShare Records)
With a consistent line-up since the debut of Underground (Sunnyside, 2006)—where, after alternating between guitarists Wayne Krantz and Adam Rogers, the reed man settled on Rogers as the group’s full-timer for Follow the Red Line: Live at the Village Vanguard (Sunnyside, 2007)—Chris Potter has not only created his most personal and identifiable music to date, but he’s clearly also found the group with which to make it. Potter and Rogers, along with mainstays Craig Taborn (Fender Rhodes) and Nate Smith (drums), work at many levels, and Ultrahang continues to mine similar territory while demonstrating steady growth.
Potter’s penchant for shifting meters—despite being couched in curiously grounded visceral grooves less firmly entrenched in a conventional rhythm section’s more fixed pulse—remains intact on the down-and-dirty opening title track, though he goes for four-on-the floor with the fierier “Rumples,” where the saxophonist and Rogers deliver a knotty, mind-bending theme of near-light speed velocity. Taborn holds down the bottom end—not only by contributing gritty bass lines, but with a disposition towards chordal accompaniment in the instrument’s lower register. Smith is the group’s unshakable yet empathic anchor—tightly locked in with Taborn while keeping his ears open to the rest of his band mates.
Potter’s ascendance as one of his generation’s most important saxophonists may be more the result of his outstanding work with trumpeter Dave Douglas and Dave Holland—especially the remarkable chemistry he shares with the bassist’s longtime trombonist Robin Eubanks—but he deserves equal, if not more, accolades for his own work. He’s one of the few saxophonists alive today who can build lengthy solos that avoid repetition and excess, the one clearly best- suited to carry on Michael Brecker’s legacy. Like the late saxophonist, Potter is uncannily versatile—near-chameleonic, in fact—capable of fitting into virtually any context and bringing a focused intent that can be, in turns, frighteningly powerful and painfully lyrical, as he is, respectively, on the intense “Small Wonder” and a tender rework of Bob Dylan’s “It Ain’t Me Babe.”
Taborn’s career has been defined by breadth and a nearly unparalleled encyclopedic knowledge that, like Potter and Rogers, makes him a perfect fit regardless of context. Soloing with relative economy on a gentle arrangement of Joni Mitchell’s balladic “Ladies of the Canyon”—available as a digital bonus track but not on the CD—he morphs easily into the Orient-facing and episodically detailed “Facing East.” Rogers demonstrates equal versatility,despite his own albums, including Apparitions (Criss Cross, 2005) and Time and the Infinite (Criss Cross, 2007), leaning more towards modern mainstream. Here he demonstrates his full breadth, ranging from sharp-toned and obliquely effected punctuations beneath Potter’s solo on the title track to an equally abstruse but edgy solo on the high octane “Boots” and softer side on “Ladies of the Canyon.”
With a group this versatile, there’s little Underground can’t do. Still, it speaks with a clear voice that incorporates elements of M-Base mathematics, funk, fusion, and folkloric pop references into a unique mélange that, based on the trajectory of Underground, Follow the Red Line and, now, Ultrahang, has nowhere to continue but up.
John Kelman (All About Jazz)
1. Ultrhang
2. Facing East
3. Rumples
4. It Ain’t Me, Babe
5. Time’s Arrow
6. Small Wonder
7. Boots
8. Interstellar Signals
Personnel:
Chris Potter (Tenor Sax , Bass Clarinet)
Adam Rogers (Guitar)
Craig Taborn (FenderRhodes)
Nate Smith (Drums)
Released on une 1st, 2009 – ArtistShare Records
Wayne Shorter – Alegría (2003 – Universal)
It is an utter joy to witness the profound evolution of a genius. With the release of Alegria, Wayne Shorter continues to widen and refine his unique musical vision—and share it with the world. From the first few notes of the opening song, “Sacajawea,” it becomes immediately evident that we’re being invited into a lyrical sonic world that is beyond common jazz metaphor. This music is stripped of all superfluity and becomes a singular document—a meeting of heavy spirits.
The music on Alegria feels “lived in” and this aura pervades every piece on the recording, even the sessions with musicians outside of the quartet orbit and the overdubbed sections. The ‘lived in’ quality comes from Shorter himself; like his former employer Miles Davis, there is as much music in what he chooses not to play as what he does voice with his horn. His tremendous presence with each note and every gesture again recalls Miles Davis, inspiring those around him to rise to a higher level of understanding of the music they are asked to interpret.
1. Sacajawea;
2. Serenata;
3. Veniendo Alegria;
4. Bachianas Brasileiras No.5;
5. Angola;
6. Interlude;
7. She Moves Through the Fair;
8. Orbits; 12th Century Carol;
9. Capricorn II
Personnel:
Wayne Shorter: tenor and soprano saxophones;
Danilo Perez; Brad Mehldau: piano;
John Patitucci: bass;
Brian Blade, Terri Lyne Carrington-drums;
Alex Acuna-percussion;
Lew Soloff, Chris Gekker, Jeremy Pelt: trumpets;
Jim Pugh, Steve davis, Bruce Eidem, Papo Vasquez, Michael Boschen: trombones;
Chris Potter: bass clarinet, tenor saxophone;
Charles Curtis: solo cello;
Paul Dunkel: flute;
Steven Taylor: oboe;
Allen Blustine: clarinet, bass clarinet;
Frank Morelli-bassoon; John Clark, Stewart Rose-horns; Marcus Rojas-tuba; David Garrett, Barry Gold, Gloria Lum, Daniel Rothmuller, Brent Samuel, Cecilia Tsan: Cello
Original Release Date: March 25, 2003 (Label: Universal)
Ryan Kisor – On the One (1993, Sony)
One of the youngest of the so-called Young Lions, Ryan Kisor first gained attention when he won the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz’s first trumpet competition in 1990 at age 17. He had earlier studied trumpet with his father, played with a local band when he was ten, and started studying classical music two years later. Kisor discovered jazz at 14 and developed quickly, playing both jazz and classical music locally. In the summer of 1988, he was inspired at a jazz camp by Clark Terry. After winning the Monk contest, he was signed by Columbia, coming out with a couple of interesting if slightly premature CDs as a leader.
In “On The One” Ryan Kisor’s playing is reminiscent of Art Blakey-type hard bop. He is accompanied in this albums by such renown musicians such as saxophonist Chris Potter; bassist Christian Mcbride; drummer Lewis Nash; and pianist Mulgrew Miller.
Original Release Date: April 13, 1993
Label: Sony
Across Rhythm 