Long a big man on the tenor saxophone campus, Chris Potter has never rested on his laurels, still hungry to make a significant statement significantly different from the one he made before. Alive with Ghosts Today manifests Potter as a saxophonist/composer/bandleader still in his prime for all three of these roles.
Potter’s guiding light for this project is the story of the notorious American abolitionist John Brown, who led armed and bloody anti-slavery activities in the run up to the American Civil War that exposed and illuminated a deep, complicated divide in American society. Potter felt it’s time to address that divide of which Brown symbolized that persists today. Of course, as an instrumentalist, Potter doesn’t address it through words.
Tag Archive: Chris Potter
Let us not beat around the bush or obfuscate the obvious: First Meeting: Live at Dizzy’s Club is as sweet a listen anyone can wish for or expect as simpatico luminaries — pianist Gonzalo Rubalcaba, saxophonist Chris Potter, bassist Larry Grenadier and drummer Eric Harland — take to Dizzy’s stage. And command it, but not with a heavy hand or selfish aspirations. A dazzling portent, First Meeting: Live at Dizzy’s Club opens all the doors and windows facing Columbus Circle and lets a most refreshing vibe into the air, the room, the drinks and the super-lucky audience.
A great disc of a superb performance has got to come with an equally grand backstory and, in a thumbnail, the provenance of First Meeting: Live at Dizzy’s Club goes like this: Instigated…