Got the Keys to the Kingdom (Edition Records)
Chris Potter
Released February 17, 2023
Slate Best Jazz Albums of 2023
71st DownBeat Annual Critics Poll Top 20 Album of the Year
Jazzwise Top 50 Albums of the Year 2023
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https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_klnad4U5wD_Y_UGAYoSDAkrLPWh6cwnYU
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About:
‘Got the Keys to the Kingdom’ is the new album from world-renowned saxophonist Chris Potter, recorded live at the Village Vanguard in February 2022. Since joining Edition Records in 2019, he has released two albums with his Circuits Trio (featuring James Francies and Eric Harland), as well as the multi-tracked solo record: ‘There Is A Tide’. Chris’ latest album features an all-star band comprising Craig Taborn, Scott Colley and Marcus Gilmore, recorded live in arguably the most famous and revered Jazz club in the world.
The new record is bursting with energy – in the moment and free. The tracklist exclusively features covers, often simple, joyous spiritual songs walking a path between augmenting the music but not losing the rawness of the original. Reimagined folk tunes (Nozani Na, Olha Maria), powerful spirituals (Got the Keys to the Kingdom) and uncommon jazz standards (Blood Count, Klactoveedsedstene) make the final cut from the multi-night residency. It’s a tracklist that defies convention allowing the band space to explore with some melodies that may not be so familiar to fans of the music; as Chris says himself – “these are tunes people don’t usually play”.
The band plays with unity and spirit, injecting momentum and seamless flow. Craig Taborn’s majestic sheets of sound, Scott Colley’s earthiness and Marcus Gilmore’s fiery pulse are commanding and compelling when fused together with Chris Potter’s distinctive biting and nuanced playing.
There’s no doubt that Chris Potter is entering a new phase in his career; since the lockdowns brought a stop to his unrelenting schedule of touring, Chris has had more hours to practise and compose. The result is some of the highest level playing you’ll hear – with ultimate humility and character.
The album is situated within the historic Village Vanguard, and the sound of this incredible room and the energy of the audience is palpable. Close your eyes, tune in and you can almost imagine you’re sitting within the hallowed walls of one of the world’s most iconic venues. Expect high energy, intensity, technical brilliance, effervescent joy and a snapshot of one of the world’s greatest saxophonists in his element.
Track Listing:
1. You Gotta Move (Mississippi Fred McDowell) 14:01
2. Nozani Na (Amazonian folk tune, transcribed by Edgar Roquette-Pinto and Heitor Villa-Lobos) 10:53
3. Blood Count (Billy Strayhorn) 09:01
4. Klactoveedsedstene (Charlie Parker) 07:26
5. Olha Maria (Antonio Carlos Jobim / Chico Buarque / Vinicius De Moraes) 06:22
6. Got the Keys to the Kingdom (traditional) 13:36
Personnel:
Chris Potter: tenor saxophone
Craig Taborn: piano
Scott Colley: bass
Marcus Gilmore: drums
Recorded by Tyler McDiarmid and Geoff Countryman at the Village Vanguard
Mixed by Chris Allen at Sear Sound
Mastered by Nate Wood at Kerseboom Mastering
Album artwork by Oli Bentley, Split
Photo by Luke Marantz Executive producer Dave Stapleton and Louise Holland
Review:
There is a lot of heavy ordnance going off during this album. Indeed, the incoming only lets up once, and then briefly, during a performance of Billy Strayhorn’s “Blood Count” at the halfway point. For the rest of the sixty-one minutes playing time, the watchword is eruptive. But no PPE is required. The barrage is benign.
This is the third album Chris Potter has recorded live at the Vanguard. The attraction is no surprise. Saxophonists, especially those whose primary horn is the tenor, must get a special charge from performing at the venue immortalised by John Coltrane. Potter leads a quartet completed by pianist Craig Taborn, bassist Scott Colley and drummer Marcus Gilmore. Each has form with Potter, especially Colley and Gilmore: Colley was in the band which recorded Lift (Live At The Village Vanguard) (Sunnyside, 2004) and Taborn in the one which made Follow The Red Line (Live At The Village Vanguard) (Sunnyside, 2007). Gilmore, the youngest member of the group, is no stranger to Potter either. Nor is he, genealogically speaking, a stranger to the Vanguard: his grandfather the great Roy Haynes, sat in for Elvin Jones for a run of “Chasin’ The Trane” during Coltrane’s historic 1961 residency.
Unlike the two earlier discs, which mostly consisted of Potter originals, Got The Keys To The Kingdom is entirely made up of covers. They are an imaginatively diverse collection: Mississippi Fred McDowell’s “You Gotta Move;” “Nozani Na,” a Brazilian folk tune collected by Heitor Villa-Lobos and Edgar Roquette-Pinto; Charlie Parker’s “Klactoveedsedstene;” Antonio Carlos Jobim’s “Olha Maria;” and the title track, a traditional African American spiritual; and the aforementioned “Blood Count.” The main soloist is Potter, who must be on-mic for around eighty per cent of the time. Next up is Gilmore, with three killer solos and Taborn with two. Colley steps forward only on the intro to “Olha Maria.”
The album will shave your ass and Potter deserves an honorary set of keys to the Vanguard on the strength of it.
Chris May (All About Jazz)
