By Paula Edelstein

Chris Potter, the compelling bandleader, soprano and tenor saxophonist and Chris Potter, the compelling sideman to jazz greats Dave Holland and Dave Douglas are one and the same. Now, proudly on his debut for the Verve Music Group, Potter has delivered some of his best playing to date. GRATITUDE, released on April 3rd, 2001, offers a contemporary bent on works dedicated to such great saxophonists as John Coltrane, Joe Henderson and Wayne Shorter, among others. Chris Potter is in the midst of a renaissance. Many of the younger jazz artists are now paying tribute to two or three generations of the most interesting "jazz elders" that have walked the planet or are still on the planet. With his tribute, Potter is in the right place at the right time and has found a dream that he can speak to, a dream he can call his own. GRATITUDE is his way of giving back to the musicians that have inspired him and have helped to shape his own musical concepts. This is the parallel universe of Chris Potter.

Joined by a quartet of his contemporaries: Kevin Hayes on keyboard, Scott Colley on bass and Brian Blade on drums, Potter's new CD is not commonplace. He wrote nine of the twelve songs on GRATITUDE and plays tenor and soprano saxophones, alto sax, bass clarinet and Chinese wood flute! Chris Potter has the inspiration built in with sensitive playing and how sweet the sounds are! This is a great debut with a great group of talented musicians and it is sure to gain Chris Potter a wider audience because of its artistic excellence, challenging concepts and deep humility. We caught up with Chris before he dashed off to Europe to begin a major tour in support of his new CD, and here's how Chris explained his parallel universe with some of jazz's greatest sax men.

ALL ABOUT JAZZ: Congratulations on your new release, GRATITUDE. Your original compositions are exceptional in capturing the essence of the many saxophonists that come from a parallel universe. Your songs encompass an astonishing outpouring of inspiration. How long does a project of this magnitude take to imaginatively craft?

CHRIS POTTER: The writing of the music was sort of a gradual process. I mean there were a couple of tunes that were written before the whole idea really came together and I realized that they would fit into that context. But I guess most of the writing happened within a period of three to four months. Once it was all set and I knew who the band would be, we rehearsed for a couple of days and then recorded for two days. It really did feel like a band…pretty much immediately and I was able to capture the essence of what I was trying to go for pretty quickly. I was thinking of trying to write for these guys also, just what they could bring to the date.

AAJ: It's almost impossible to overstate the importance of John Coltrane on many jazz saxophonists today. You've written "The Source" for John Coltrane and really shine out front with coherent soloing, power and rich musical imagination. Was there one period during Coltrane's career that influenced you more so than others? For example his time with his bebop and classic quintet, his constant spirituality quests, sheets of sound, modal excursions, his time with Miles Davis, or the avant-garde period preceding his death?

CP: It would be hard for me to say which period influenced me more. I think when I was first checking Coltrane out the things that I really got into were more of his earlier songs like "Giant Steps" and "My Favorite Things." But over the course of time, I've checked out a lot of his music and there's a lot to really love about all the periods of his playing. The tune, "The Source," is probably closest compositionally to a couple of tunes on his COLTRANE PLAYS THE BLUES. There's a tune called "Mr. Day" and there's a tune called "Mr. Night." I was thinking of that kind of feel when I wrote the tune but I was also thinking of a rhythmic feel… sort of a feel that Coltrane wouldn't have necessarily used. It's actually just a blues, which is the whole backbone of jazz anyway.

AAJ: Well the way you pulled this blues off is really cool. There are no lonely geniuses in the jazz pantheon, for in this medium there is almost always the company of a band. Your band features Kevin Hayes on piano, Scott Colley on bass and Brian Blade on drums for most of the CD and because of the nature of jazz performance, (i.e., improvisations, shout choruses, etc.) group interaction is required at the highest level. Had you worked with them previously on other recordings?

CP: Yes. I've worked with Kevin and Scott a fair amount on my own things too and we'd done a tour the year before. I'd played with Scott in many configurations over the years. I've recorded with Brian Blade on Danilo Perez's MOTHERLAND but we really haven't done that much work together even though I've known him for a long time and knew he'd be the right guy for it. But he's probably the one guy that I've played with the least!

AAJ: You guys sound as if you've been playing together forever!

CP: It really did have that feeling…I was shocked!

AAJ: The diversity of GRATITUDE ranges from the hard bop of Sonny Rollins on "Sun King" to the free playing of Ornette Coleman on "Vox Humana." You have really "represented" since the role models you've selected still stand as two of the most pertinent in their sax styles…hard bop and free jazz. By the time you finished the CD, did you feel your personal style had taken on aspects of their approach?

CP: Well, I think it's more like I've been listening to those guys for years and I've gone through phases where I tried to sound just like them and try to really figure out how their language works…how and what they were thinking when they were playing those notes, etc. It's the product of years and years of study. I feel like I've digested their language in a certain way to the point where now, when I was actually playing the music, I wasn't really consciously thinking of them but more about just making some good music and just sort of playing how I play. I didn't want to force it or sound as if I were copying the way that they would play. I just wanted to show that's where I'm coming from.

AAJ: What do you, as a member of a new generation of modern jazz saxophonists, look for when developing technical proficiency -- a great collaborator, teacher, or instrument and equipment?

CP: Well I think it all goes into it. We are all searching for the right mouthpiece, the right saxophone, and the right reed. A lot of my inspiration comes from just listening to all these guys and actually trying to listen to everything around. Not just songs in the jazz world but the music of Bartok, Stravinsky, etc., some of the modern harmonies, Stevie Wonder, The Beatles, and even Brazilian music. There's a whole world of influences that are more available to us now than ever before. You can walk into a record store and get a CD from a tiny village in Africa and it's amazing. There is so much music out there that you can check out and I want more and more to find out how to combine these influences into my music.

AAJ: In addition to playing the tenor, soprano and alto voices on the saxophone, the bass clarinet and the Chinese wood flute are heard on "Vox Humana" for Ornette Coleman. Why did you choose this particular instrument?

CP: I was sort of thinking of the way Ornette approaches music. He'd play the violin…(he had no idea how to play the violin), but he used it as a sound. Just sort of going for what he heard and that was my approach too. I bought this wooden flute when I was in China and I just loved the sound of it. I had no idea how they play it or what the correct way is to play it. But that's what I liked about it also. I wanted to just go for what I heard. I'd studied the saxophone so hard…I just wanted to get away from that. I wanted to play an instrument that I didn't know what to do with. I thought that would be sort of a fitting tribute to Ornette and his way of thinking too and to show that there are other aspects of music besides the technical aspects.

I used the bass clarinet on "Body & Soul" for Coleman Hawkins. I felt like there have been so many recordings of "Body & Soul" (including the one he recorded in 1939) which is maybe the first really great saxophone solo on record and I didn't want to compete with it. There has already been a lot said by a lot of other great saxophonists and I wanted it to have another sound…partially to change the whole way the record sounds. For a minute there, there is just this duet with just the acoustic bass and the bass clarinet instead of the whole band. I thought that was an effective contrast between the rest of the tunes.

AAJ: It really is a great concept. One of the hottest trends in jazz is the tribute album and it's great that jazz musicians honor each other at this respect level. What would you tell a novice entering a jazz career to aspire to in order to attract and keep the knowledgeable listeners coming back for more?

CP: Wow! That's a big question and something we all want to know the answer to. It is hard to know how to play in such a way that people are going to listen to what you play. But I think in order to really keep an audience involved and hopefully coming back for more, you really do have to be true to what you want to play. I think people can sense when they are being sort of, pandered to. I would like to believe anyway that integrity has its rewards…that if you go up there and really play exactly what you want to play and not what you think other people want to hear, then you actually have a better chance of keeping an audience.

AAJ: That's for sure. We've heard you play Chris and here we are again! (Laughs) But seriously, long after the lights go down on the set, the applause dies down and the audience leaves, what does Chris Potter do to make that same magic happen in concert night after night after night?

CP: That's what jazz is! You don't' really know how its going to feel the next night, especially if you're in a different place with a different sound. But that's what is so great about jazz. You really are playing in the moment. So you just try to be open to your surroundings and different nights are going to have a different vibe. Sometimes you are just unbelievably tired and you've been traveling all day, and sometimes those are the worse nights and sometimes those are the best nights!

AAJ: Sort of like running or playing on fumes! (Laughs)

CP: Yes, pretty much. (Laughs)

AAJ: Will you be appearing in concert to support GRATITUDE soon?

CP: We're going to Europe in mid-April for a few weeks and then have a few gigs around the USA in June, a Canadian festival, back to Europe in July and then some more work in the States in September.

AAJ: Now that's a busy schedule! We certainly appreciate your taking time from your schedule to speak to us and once again, congratulations on your debut for Verve.

CP: Thank you very much.