Underground (Chris Potter album)

Underground
Studio album by
Chris Potter
Released2006
RecordedJanuary 31, 2006
VenueSystems Two Studios, Brooklyn, NY
GenreJazz
Length69:44
LabelSunnyside
SCC 3034
ProducerChris Potter
Chris Potter chronology
Lift: Live at the Village Vanguard
(2004) 		Underground
(2006) 		Song for Anyone
(2007)

Underground is the tenth studio album by jazz saxophonist Chris Potter released on the Sunnyside label in 2006.[1] It features guitarist Wayne Krantz, keyboardist Craig Taborn and drummer Nate Smith.

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic[2]
All About Jazz[3]
The Guardian[4]
The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings[5]

The Allmusic review by Thom Jurek awarded the album 31⁄2 stars stating "Underground won't come close to appealing to everyone, but so what? It's a fine Potter outing and studio documentation of a fine band that has actually kept the jazz in fusion and vice versa".[2]

All About Jazz correspondent John Kelman observed "With Underground Potter delivers the album that his consistently impressive past efforts only suggested was possible. Combining complex and emotionally wide-reaching compositions with often knotty, yet always accessible grooves, Potter has finally fashioned an album that, more than announcing his potential, delivers it from start to finish with a clear voice ... Potter is by no means at his creative peak—or so we can only hope—but with Underground he has made his most personal and successful statement to date".[3]

In The Guardian, John Fordham wrote "When powerful employers give him the nod, Potter can sound like one of the best saxophonists on the planet, one who seems to have fully absorbed the jazz-sax tradition from Sidney Bechet to Tim Berne. He has been more unsettled as a leader, but this set launches a scalding contemporary-fusion band that includes two gifted younger mavericks".[4]

Track listing

All compositions by Chris Potter except where indicated

  1. "Next Best Western" – 9:40
  2. "Morning Bell" (Colin Greenwood, Ed O'Brien, Jonny Greenwood, Phil Selway, Thom Yorke) – 5:41
  3. "Nudnik" – 9:53
  4. "Lotus Blossom" (Billy Strayhorn) – 5:09
  5. "Big Top" – 11:46
  6. "The Wheel" – 6:59
  7. "Celestial Nomad" – 6:28
  8. "Underground" – 11:11
  9. "Yesterday" (John Lennon, Paul McCartney) – 2:50

Personnel

References

  1. ^ Sunnyside Records Album Entry. Retrieved January 8, 2018
  2. ^ a b Jurek, Thom. Chris Potter – Underground: Review at AllMusic. Retrieved January 8, 2018.
  3. ^ a b Kelman, J. All About Jazz Review, January 27, 2006
  4. ^ a b Fordham, J. The Guardian Review, March 10, 2006
  5. ^ Cook, Richard; Morton, Brian (2008). The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings (9th ed.). Penguin. p. 1175. ISBN 978-0-141-03401-0.