This is a very nice leadership debut by a young (22) US saxophonist who has most recently been honing his skills with Red Rodney.
Potter mainly plays tenor but also alto and soprano and has an attractive tone on each. There are a few modernist squeaks and screeches but not too many, and his solos are all properly shaped and rounded off in proper musical conclusions. This praiseworthy (for 1993!) attribute is particularly evident in the two smaller groups where he plays a lyrical alto on Reflections and leads an excellent trio on tenor on Solar where bass and drums contribute equally to a very satisfying six minutes. He plays soprano only on Cindy’s Story but in no way does this sound like a subsidiary instrument and the ensemble combination with Swana on flugelhorn is harmonically most pleasing. Kevin Hays contributes a fine piano solo on the latter, too, and the rhythm section make this a star track.
Potter’s best tenor work is on Juggernaut and General Rodney (his own compositions – and good ones) both of which really move. Swana’s trumpet work is mainly in the high registers in the contemporary US brass fashion, but while a bit ‘spitty’ (e.g., on Rodney), it is not discordant, and in the ensembles his understanding with Potter is almost uncanny.
A fine issue which should please all but avowed avant-gardists. Congratulations, too, to Gerry Teekens and Criss Cross for this excellent follow up to two other recent issues in similar vein, Tad Shull’s Deep Passion (1047) and Hod O’Brien’s Opalessence (1012); he seems to be building a fine stable of the more musical of contemporary American players. Recommended.
Discography
(1) Juggernaut; Uneasy Dreams; The Tail That Wags The Dog; (2) Reflections; (1) So Far; (3) Solar; (1) Cindy’s Story; General Rodney (65.39)
(1) John Swana (t/flh); Chris Potter (as/ts/ss); Kevin Hays (p); Christian McBride (b); Lewis Nash (d). (2) as (1) but Swana out. (3) as (2) but Hays out. NYC, December 29, 1992.
(Criss Cross CRISS 1067 CD)
