Here it is, only February, and already saxist Chris Potter has been in local gigs three different times. The first two had him as a partner with Pat Metheny, and then he formed part of the front line with the Monterey Jazz All Stars. Does such ubiquity cause a collective yawn among his fan base? As the Apostle Paul would exclaim, “May it never be!”
This time around, Potter brought his own team of David Virelles/p, Larry Grenadier/b and Eric Harland/dr as well as the material from his intriguing latest album that is a tribute to Homer’s Odyssey. As far as crowd appeal, the Musician’s Institute was packed with people intrigued by music dedicated to the epic poem. Guilt from a previous philosophy/lit class? Anyway, “Wine Dark Sea” and “Wayfinder” started the musical trek with mysterious Hellenistic chords provided by Virelles while Potter searched the Mediterranean with tenor before switching to bass clarinet and delivering intricate and twisting lines in contrast to Harland’s percussive kinetics. Agonizing melancholia was squeezed out on Potter’s soprano on “Nausikaa” while “Sirens” had the band climb Mount Olympus with a crescendo of forward thrust not unlike Sisyphus charging up the precipice. With Grenadier’s bowed bass agonizing on the intro, “Ask Me Why” had Potter closing the set with an angular and enthusiastic crescendo that produced a cataclysmic climax to an evening that took 21st century music back a couple millennia. No small fete!