Feature photo: Dave Stapleton
As we experience the hopeful signs of society coming out of a dark winter of plague, saxophonist, composer and bandleader Chris Potter is giving us music of rejuvenation. Potter took advantage of an opportunity last fall to get his electro-acoustic Circuits Trio in the studio and the resultant Sunrise Reprise is a welcome follow-up to this band’s 2019 debut Circuits.
The experience of being in the studio for the first time after the better part of a year holed up at home was cathartic for all three, and it shows. There are samples, overdubs and gobs of electronic keyboards and at the same time this has a “live in studio” vibe going for it because of the energy put into these recordings. There’s also a bit of Potter’s DIY There Is A Tide project that seeped into this album, as Potter dubbed in a full array of woodwinds and flutes, usually at choral points, to place accents that makes the sound feel more substantial than a trio at the spots where that makes the most sense.
“Sunrise and Joshua Trees” is not a track you’d normally expect to hear at the front, because it’s contemplative with the melody drawn out. The luxuriant chords are rather reminiscent of a Michael Brecker ballad, and the insertion of a clarinet to harmonize with tenor sax adds to the lush sonority, a free-floating song that’s also imbued with melody.
Potter’s sax showcase on the succulently sinuous “Southbound” shows that even with an eye toward groove and electrified sounds, the man will still bring the chops.
“Serpentine” is just how to describe the chord pattern of this song, integrated tightly to Harland’s groove and a fat bass line. Yet with the freedom and joyful unpredictability, this song is probably descended more from Coltrane than it is James Brown. The peak comes when Francies gets jiggy during an extended synth solo.
“The Peanut” is definitely more of the Coltrane variety, a worthy update on the fragile beauty of “Naima,” accompanied only by Francies on piano.
And then there’s the grand “Nowhere, Now Here/Sunrise Reprise,” a twenty-four minute voyage that gathers many of the ideas put forth on the prior tracks, held together by a recurring three chord sequence as the song pulls in shades of several styles like drum ‘n’ bass, experimental, neo-soul, and rock-jazz. Loops, pulsating synth bass, a busy snare drum set the tonal architecture but maximal sax playing takes the front seat. The album is brought full circle with a vague revisit of the motif from the first track (the “Sunrise Reprise” finale).
Chris Potter has delved into the world of electric, contemporary jazz for some time, now, but he never leaves behind the things that makes the more traditional jazz so great. As Sunrise Reprise probes ever deeper into future jazz, the ties back to the mainstream jazz that Potter had mastered from the beginning remain as strong as ever.
Sunrise Reprise will make its initial impact on May 14, 2021, via Edition Records.
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