 |
| Chris Potter |
Last night, my son and I readied ourselves for the long drive we were about to make to see and hear Chris Potter at the Rex blues and jazz club. We geared ourselves with drinks and tunes (mostly Chris’s new album Circuits and Follow the Red Line) to prepare ourselves for the amazing concert we knew we were about to experience. These tickets were what I had gifted my son for his birthday, knowing that my son holds Chris in the highest esteem as a top drawer tenor saxophone musician and composer. My son was smitten by the Chris Potter sound in his early teens, and this went on to have a profound impact on his approach to the saxophone.
 |
| Eric Harland |
So, forward to today; I was watching a Chris Potter concert on Intermezzo (with Dave Holland - bass and Zakir Hussain - tabla) when I ventured to Chris’s home page, the touring section; I was pleasantly surprised to find he was performing within a comfortable driving distance from where we live; gift to buy for a hard-to-buy-for-person has just been achieved, with a hearty pat on my back for being so persistent. When I informed him that my gift to him was tickets to a Chris Potter concert, I can honestly say that I can not remember the last time I saw him filled with so much joy. What made this evening even more special, is that we were informed, when the concert began, that this was the first time in thirty years since Chris has performed here.
 |
| Matt Brewer |
For those of you not familiar with Chris Potter, he is a first-rate multi-instrumentalist and composer (soprano and alto saxophone, bass clarinet, guitar, flutes and piano); however, the tenor saxophone is his main instrument. If I were asked to describe what Chris’s music is like, I could only compare what he does to the French impressionist painters; but Chris creates beautiful portraitures with sound as his medium. If interested, I highly recommend the album that started it for us: Follow The Red Line (a difficult commodity to obtain these days) and his new album Circuits, both albums filled with beautiful ballads and vibrant Avantgard tunes.
 |
| The Circuits Trio |
Chris’s current iteration is entitled: the Circuits Trio with Eric Harland - drums and Matt Brewer - electric bass. Wow! What a powerhouse of sound! Together with Matt Brewer's mellifluous bass tones, and Eric Harland's dynamic percussion, Chris’s band provided an extremely rich, intimate sound for the venue at hand. The Rex, though not a large venue, did supply its audience with a comfortable acoustically sound space; not overpowering, but well engineered by the sound tech for a full, round, solid listening experience. The crowd was lively, exuberant and well deserving of which they were fortunate enough to be ticket holders. If musical notes were something that could be interpreted visually, then we would have been hip deep in notes that night; the music flowed endlessly.
The evening ended on a graceful note for my son and me: we had the opportunity to meet and chat briefly with Chris. For my son, it was just one of those moments that you think will never happen that just happened! Chris is not only a great musician, but as we learned, also a really nice man.
Disclosure:
Some of the links are affiliate links, meaning, at no additional cost to you, we will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase. We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. However, this does not impact our reviews and comparisons. We try our best to keep things fair and balanced. By purchasing through our links you are helping us maintain this site.
Comments
Post a Comment