Post-bop saxophonist
Chris Potter quietly became one of the more sophisticated and respected stylists of the '90s and early 2000s, both as a leader and as a sideman in several prominent groups. Born in Chicago on New Year's Day 1971,
Potter grew up mostly in Columbia, South Carolina, and started playing piano as a child. He took up the alto saxophone at age ten, initially inspired by
Paul Desmond and
Johnny Hodges, and went on to learn tenor and soprano sax, bass clarinet, and flute; by 13, he was performing professionally. At age 18, he moved to New York to attend the Manhattan School of Music, and quickly joined veteran bop trumpeter
Red Rodney's quintet, with whom he performed until
Rodney's death in 1994. Meanwhile, he started playing on the side with Jazz Mentality and
John Hart in 1992, and at the end of the year cut his first album as a leader,
Presenting Chris Potter, for the Dutch Criss Cross label. In early 1993, he guested on
Marian McPartland's In My Life on Concord Jazz, which led to a deal of his own with the label; despite their generally mainstream output, they promised the more adventurous
Potter full creative control.
Potter's first album to achieve widespread release in the U.S. was his Concord debut, Concentric Circles, and it received generally excellent reviews, marking him as a name to watch. Gigs with
Paul Motian,
Renee Rosnes,
John Patitucci, and
Steely Dan's reunion tour raised his profile over the next two years, and he cut two more dates for Concord in 1994: Pure and a duo album with onetime instructor
Kenny Werner. In addition to keeping up his associations with
Motian and Jazz Mentality,
Potter went on to play with
the Mingus Big Band (which helped his stock rise even higher) and
Steve Swallow, and completed another album,
Moving In, in 1996. For the following year's
Unspoken,
Potter hauled out a big-time rhythm section of guitarist
John Scofield, bassist
Dave Holland, and drummer
Jack DeJohnette.
Unfortunately,
Potter subsequently suffered a bout with Meniere's disease, a recurring condition that eroded much of the hearing in one ear. It didn't prevent him from continuing his career, though, and his next solo offering, 1998's
Vertigo, consolidated his growing critical goodwill; it also found him leading his own quartet, anchored by bassist
Scott Colley. That same year,
Potter took on two of his most important side gigs: he joined
Dave Holland's acclaimed quintet, and also began playing with fast-rising trumpet star
Dave Douglas. For the next few years,
Potter concentrated mostly on playing and touring with those artists, as well as
Motian and
Jim Hall; he was also nominated for a Grammy thanks to his solo work on "In Vogue," a track from
Joanne Brackeen's 1999 album Pink Elephant Magic. In 2000,
Potter was named the recipient of Denmark's prestigious Jazzpar Prize, making him the youngest person ever to win the award. He was also heavily featured on
Steely Dan's Grammy-winning comeback album
Two Against Nature, gaining his widest exposure yet. He left Concord Jazz to sign with Verve, and offered his label debut with 2001's
Gratitude, a widely acclaimed album paying tribute to past saxophone greats. At this point, his quartet included
Colley, keyboardist
Kevin Hayes, and drummer
Brian Blade;
Blade was replaced by
Bill Stewart for the 2002 follow-up
Traveling Mercies and Lift: Live at the Village Vanguard, the latter of which appeared in 2004 on Sunnyside. A new band with guitarist
Wayne Krantz, keyboardist
Craig Taborn, and drummer
Nate Smith was introduced on the 2006 release Underground. Song for Anyone appeared in 2007, featuring a new quartet and a pair of string players. He appeared as part of
Motian's trio on 2010's
Lost in a Dream, and led
the NDR Bigband on Transatlantic for
EMI in 2011.
In early 2013,
Potter made his debut as a leader for
ECM on the album Sirens. His compositions for the set were inspired by episodes in Homer's epic poem The Odyssey. His quintet for the date included
Taborn (piano),
David Virelles (prepared piano, celeste, harmonium),
Larry Grenadier (double bass), and
Eric Harland (drums). The saxophonist expanded the reach of his Underground quartet for 2015's
Imaginary Cities. In addition to its original lineup,
Potter added two bass players and a string quartet. The album was credited to
the Chris Potter Underground Orchestra. Zea, a live recording with Hungarian ethno-jazz group
Mihály Dresch Quartet, arrived in 2017.
Also in 2017,
Potter delivered his third leader date for
ECM,
The Dreamer Is the Dream. Recorded at New York's Avatar Studios with producer
Manfred Eicher, the album also featured pianist
David Virelles, drummer
Marcus Gilmore, and bassist
Joe Martin -- all
ECM veterans who deliver a rhythm-heavy sound. The quartet developed the six new tunes and worked out charts over a few days in Switzerland before coming to North America to record. The saxophonist returned in 2019 with Circuits, a quartet date that found him exploring the use of samples and electronics alongside keyboardist James Francis, drum virtuoso
Eric Harland, and bassist
Linely Marthe. ~ Steve Huey