Chris Potter Underground: Follow the Red Line: Live at the Village Vanguard (2007,

Sunnyside): Easily the top regarded tenor saxophonist of his generation -- Sonny
Rollins and Joe Lovano still get more votes in polls, but that's it. I resisted for
a long time, but his Lift: Live at the Village Vanguard won me over with its
quartet simplicity and high energy. The lineup was typical sax-piano-bass-drums,
with peers Kevin Hays - Piano, Scott Colley - Bass, and Bill Stewart - Drums. In
2005 Potter recorded Underground with a funkier quartet: Craig Taborn on Fender
Rhodes, Wayne Krantz on guitar, Nate Smith on drums, with no bass. The new Village
Vanguard record takes that group with Adam Rogers instead of Krantz into the
spotlight and turns up the heat. The highlight is called "Pop Tune #1" as if jump,
jive and wail were just an exercise, but all save one of the cuts are like that, at
least once they warm up. The slow change of pace is nice too, and he left the
soprano in the hotel. This may just go to show that his postbop stuff critics and
fans adore is too fancy for me