| Follow the Red Line - Live at the Village Vanguard | 
 enlarge | List Price: $16.98
Buy New: $11.47
You Save: $5.51 (32%)
Buy New/Used from $7.94
Avg. Customer Rating:   (based on 15 reviews)
Sales Rank: 55474
Category: Music
Artist: Chris Potter Underground
Publisher: Sunny Side Records
Studio: Sunny Side Records
Manufacturer: Sunny Side Records
Label: Sunny Side Records
Format: Live
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 5.6 x 4.9 x 0.4
MPN: 3075
UPC: 016728307529
EAN: 0016728307529
ASIN: B000SNUNR4
Release Date: September 11, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
|
| Tracks:
| • | Train | | • | Arjuna | | • | Pop Tune #1 | | • | Viva Las Vilnius | | • | Zea | | • | Togo |
|
| Similar Items:
|
| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
A part of the jazz tradition is the live recording, and Manhattan's fabled Village Vanguard is the brook of fire through which every improviser must pass. That said, Follow the Red Line / Live at the Village Vanguard shows that Potter has come through the burning sands of that venue s bandstand in flying colors. Backed by an intriguing, piano-less quartet composed of Detroit's Craig Taborn on Fender Rhodes electric piano, drummer Nate Smith, and guitarist Adam Rogers, Potter prances and dances on six extended-length excursions. Train leads off the set with some serious Staz-on-steroids swing, followed by the subcontinental syncopations of Arjuna, named for the Indian prince in the Indian literary classic, the Mahabharata. Pop Tune #1 is laced with some up-south downbeats in three, graced by Smith's tangy solo, while Viva Las Vilnius dances with Carib-cadences, contrasted by the hymnal hues of Zea. The disc closes on the powerful, Afrobeat anthemed Togo a propulsive ode to the delightful West African nation that Duke Ellington saluted in one of his last major suites. Here, Potter's in-the-pocket bass clarinet solo and accompaniment is an Africanized summation of that instrument s major voices from Eric Dolphy to Bennie Maupin, equaled only by Taborn's impossible keyboard solo.
Chris Potter s synthesis of the saxophone, flute and bass clarinet masters, and his ability to mold them into his own sound started with his first instrument, the piano, when he grew up in Columbia, South Carolina. He moved there after he was born in Chicago on New Years Day, 1971. He later switched to saxophone after he heard alto sax legends Paul Desmond, and Johnny Hodges. He was a professional by the time he was fourteen, and four years later, he moved to New York, enrolled at the Manhattan School of Music, and joined bop trumpeter Red Rodney's quintet until 1994. He also worked with Jazz Mentality and guitarist John Hart. His other prominent gigs as a sideman include work with Marian McPartland on her 1993 CD, In My Life, and with Renee Rosnes, Paul Motian, Dave Holland, John Patitucci, Dave Douglas, Steve Swallow, and Kenny Werner. He also toured with Steely Dan and recorded on their 2000 recording, Two Against Nature.
Potter's first CD as a leader, Presenting Chris Potter was released on the Criss Cross label in 1992. His other recordings of note include Concentric Circles (Concord Jazz, 1993), Vertigo (Concord Jazz, 1998), Gratitude (Verve 2001), Traveling Mercies (Verve, 2002), and his first two sides for Sunnyside, Lift: Live at the Village Vanguard (2004), and Underground (2006). The reedman s gifts have also been noted by the critics, as evidenced by his winning of Denmark's esteemed Jazzpar Prize in 2000 the youngest to ever win the award.
|
| Customer Reviews: Read 10 more reviews...
Desert Island CD #1 June 30, 2009
I've been listening to this since it came out over a year ago. It's simply incredible. To say the writing and playing are superb is so much of an understatement. Usually when I listen to a CD there are inevitably tracks that I always skip - not the case with this one. I think Train is my favorite, but then comes Pop Tune #1, so funky... Zea slows it down for a short relaxing turn... and Togo, man, just wait for Potter's solo, I had to sit down and transcribe the whole thing. Just get this album if you haven't heard it, you'll be blown away.
Some of The freshest New Music Being Played! June 19, 2009
Well I imagine there's not to much more that can be said about how great this album is that hasn't already been said by others but here I go anyway. I really love the blend of musical styles that Chris Potter & Underground have so beautifully melded together in a melodic, virtuoso and very accessible sound that I can hear again and again without becoming boring or stale. All the players are in peak form and I really enjoy the guitar of Adam Rogers who manages not to sound like most of the other jazz fusion guitarists out playing today. The drummer Nate Smith is great blending the loose swinging feel of jazz with the hard pocket back beat of funk with chops aplenty and much taste. I really like all the songs but if I had to pick two favorites they would be Pop Tune #1 & viva la Vilnius. Pop tune is simply beautiful with some unexpected twists and turns and a killer solo by Adam Rogers. Vilnius is a diverse mind blowing piece that merits careful listening as does this whole album, because this cd is not one to be listened to in small segments. You need to bring it on a long car ride or along walk with your ipod cause each tune is extended.Chris Potter really shines as always on this,blasting away on tenor and bass clarinet, and let me say that I'm really glad he chose to bust out his bass clarinet for two of these tunes it adds a dimension not often heard on most jazz records today and he plays it beautifully. If you like this check out Undergrounds latest cd Ultrahang. Bottom line is buy this album for a fresh new listening experience you won't be disappointed I promise.
Are you Kidding? October 22, 2008
Good God. I didn't think I could like Chris Potter anymore than I did after Lift. But the magnitude of some of these tracks is simply staggering. I must have listened to the 1st track five time before i even listened to the rest of the album. That funked out melody line (and solo(s))groove(s) so hard I started headbanging (which looks really weird in odd meters)(you should have seen me try to dance to 7.5). Viva las Vilnius also has one of my favorite solos, as well as a ridiculously cool melody. Sea boasts one of the best solos I've heard on a Rhodes, as well does togo. I wasn't much for pop tune as a chart, but none of these guys ever have a bad solo. Put it simple, God loves Chris Potter.
Potter Blows the Doors Off May 25, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
It is tough to add a lot to the superlatives thrown around by the other reviewers, but I am so thoroughly blown away by this album that I am unable to resist registering my enthusiasm. The one thing that bears mention and hasn't been discussed enough is the sheer power of Potter's playing. Potter's solo on "Train," the album's first tune, is truly otherworldly, dynamically building in intensity over the course of more than five minutes (and his solo on "Pop Tune #1" is almost as powerful). I'm not sure whether the title of the tune is an homage to Coltrane (the spelling would suggest that it isn't), but Chris sounds more like Coltrane here than anyone I've ever heard. However, the rest of the band is like nothing Coltrane ever played with. Adam Rogers' guitar fulfills the simultaneous function of a guitarist and a bassist, adding funk to the music and giving it the feel of a jam session or even, at times, a garage band, a feel that is augmented by Nate Smith's heavily rock 'n roll style drumming. The key for these musicians is that the tunes are open enough to allow Potter a great deal of solo space, which he takes advantage of with a combination of intensity and virtuosity that is unparalleled in anything I have heard recently (Taborn and Rogers' solos aren't too shabby either). If you own five jazz albums recorded this decade, this should be one of them.
Chris Potter & Underground - Follow the Red line May 18, 2008
This a wonderful live recording of a real powerhouse tenor player and some of the best young musicians around. It is eclectic in its references to other styles and has a strong rock influence as well. One of the very best CDs for me. Strong, interesting soloing and great ensemble playing.
|
|
|
