Sunrise Reprise

Modern Jazz / Indie Jazz
premiera polska: 23.09.2021
kontynent: Ameryka Północna
kraj: USA
opakowanie: ecopackowe etui
opis:
DownBeat * * * *
… „Sunrise Reprise” pobrzmiewa modernistyczną witalnością i pulsującą elektroniką. Jednak centralnym punktem kompozycji albumu pozostają doskonale wyrzeźbione saksofonowe partie Pottera. Pianista James Francies i drummer Eric Harland odpowiednio zagęszczając muzyczną narrację, sprawiają, że żarliwy saksofon Pottera brzmi jeszcze bardziej ekscytująco…

JazzWise * * * *
"Sunrise Reprise", druga płyta tego tria brzmi, jakby miała w sobie świadomość zaskakująco świeżego celu; powódź nowych, czasami żartobliwych pomysłów wydaje się organicznie i spontanicznie wypływać z przyciągających ucho nowych tematów Pottera, w porównaniu z bardziej ustrukturyzowanym podejściem z jego poprzedniego albumu "There is a Tide"... zamykający prawie 25-minutowy "Nowhere, Here Now Sunrise" zaczyna się od marzycielskiego fletu w stylu Charlesa Lloyda, po którym następuje zapierająca dech w piersiach kulminacja trójki muzyków…

JazzTimes
Czy Chris Potter jest dzisiaj najbardziej niezwykłym saksofonistą tenorowym? Obejrzyj klip na YouTube zatytułowany "Chris Potter Going Completely Insane on Moment’s Notice" z wynikiem 555 000 wyświetleń i sam sobie odpowiedz na to pytanie… "Sunrise Reprise" to druga odsłona triowego projektu Pottera z Franciesem za klawiszami i Harlandem za perkusją. Nowa płyta stylistycznie jest bardziej rozległa niż pierwsza z 2019 roku, zdecydowanie ma tendencję do przekraczania temperatury pokojowej.

Editor's Info:
One of the most prolific improvisers of his generation returns with the follow up to his 2019 Circuits album: a powerful and cathartic record featuring keyboardist James Francies and drummer Eric Harland.

In Sept 2020, a small window emerged from the restrictions and saw an opportunity to record ‘Sunrise Reprise’ with his Circuits trio. It was the first time anyone in the group had recorded with other musicians in months, and for prolific musicians such as these, it resulted in an outpouring of collective creativity, energy, and spirit.

The session was a huge release from the build-up of tension over the previous months, as Chris explains; “All of a sudden we’re in the studio. It felt such a release, a sense of freedom to create and to express ourselves collectively. It’s this, that has been the central part of this album – it’s about the trio, our shared energy, reflecting our own thoughts and feelings from all that’s going on in the world. Eric, James, and I really needed to PLAY, to try to put into music all the intense feelings of the previous few months. The close bond we had developed playing this music together on the road led to what we felt as a cathartic musical experience in the studio, documented in one very special evening”. Chris Potter

DownBeat * * * *
It’s hard to think of Chris Potter as only a saxophone phenom after There Is A Tide, his 2020 solo album recorded at home and launched during lockdown. A one-man jazz orchestra, he played 14 instruments on the release, his third for the U.K.-based Edition imprint. His move to the label in 2019 makes room for such creative forays, which continue apace with this year’s Sunrise Reprise.

This latest album captures the second studio date for Potter’s trio with pianist James Francies and drummer Eric Harland. As with Circuits, their 2019 debut, Sunrise Reprise buzzes with modernistic vitality and oscillating electronics—at a slight remove from Potter’s earlier acoustic work. Still, the focal point of the album’s compositions remains Potter’s perfectly sculpted lines, in this case, stacked in unison or two-part harmony. But Francies and Harland, in providing the ballast for such vertical expansion, render Potter’s alacritous exploration all the more exciting. One can hear the trio’s discerning equilibrium on “Southbound,” in Francies’ responsive comping and electrifying solos, or on “Serpentine,” in Harland’s flawless punctuation of the horn’s brisk melodic statements.

Intriguingly, the last track, “Nowhere, Now Here/Sunrise Reprise,” and the first, “Sunrise And Joshua Trees,” share a buried hook—a few simple, arresting intervals. Potter’s musical notions in and around this melodic reference impress: The closing tune alone lasts 24 minutes. Potter fills that time with meditative passages, scratchy grooves, ethereal effects and feverish soloing—capping a release that presages, one hopes, brighter days and happier outlooks.
By Suzanne Lorge

JazzTimes
Is Chris Potter the most extraordinary tenor saxophonist alive? Cue up a YouTube clip titled “Chris Potter Going Completely Insane on Moment’s Notice” with 555,000 views and you tell us. Alongside fellow tenorman Marcus Strickland, pianist Benny Green, bassist Martin Wind, and drummer Matt Wilson, Potter plays as if it’s the last time he’ll ever pick up a horn. By the end of his incendiary solo, even his bandmates look taken aback.

Once your technical ability seemingly hits the ceiling, what do you do? Over the past decade, the answer for Potter seems to be that you open up. A trio of critically acclaimed albums on ECM—2013’s The Sirens, 2015’s Imaginary Cities, and 2017’s The Dreamer Is the Dream—recontextualized his gutsy playing onto an impressionistic landscape for full emotional impact. Then came a pivot to the U.K. label Edition, and with it the electrified Circuits Trio, featuring keyboardist James Francies and drummer Eric Harland.

Sunrise Reprise is the second ride for this project, and it’s a more spacious one than the first, 2019’s Circuits. But where the ECM albums felt earthy and capacious thanks to masters like pianist Craig Taborn and bassist Larry Grenadier, here the synthesized accompaniment leans a little listless. This especially applies to the opener, “Sunrise and Joshua Trees.” When the energy does upshift, it’s only to second or third, as on the CTI-style workout “Serpentine.”

Taborn comes up for a reason. Last year, his Junk Magic project put out Compass Confusion, one of the most startling and disorienting electronic crossover albums in years. Going “completely insane” isn’t a necessary or even advisable value to uphold as an artist. Still, as this style of music goes, hot tends to beat room temperature.
by MORGAN ENOS

JazzWise * * * *
Sometimes recordings are all about the timing, and we're not talking about a musical pulse here. Whether it's the cathartic release after having been separated from interaction with other musicians for over six months, as the internationally renowned post-bop tenor/soprano saxophonist Chris Potter has suggested – “It felt such a release, a sense of freedom to create and to express ourselves collectively. It's this that has been the central part of this album” – or whether there was something in the air, Potter and his Circuits trio have radically raised their game for the new release Sunrise Reprise. Their second CD for Dave Stapleton's Edition Records sounds like it has a freshness of purpose; a playfully inventive flood of ideas seem to organically and spontaneously flow out of Potter's ear-catching new themes, in comparison to the more structured approach on his previous lockdown release There is a Tide recorded in isolation on which he performed all the instruments. Sunrise Reprise is made up of five compositions. Following three outstanding tracks, both in composition and execution, comes a sumptuous ballad ‘The Peanut’ with Potter coming out of his shell with a performance that's raw and passionate. The closing near-to 25-minute ‘Nowhere, Here Now Sunrise’ begins with a dream-like Charles Lloyd-like flute followed by some breathtaking soloing from all concerned against a hip contemporary latin/drum ‘n’ bass setting. Sunrise Reprise has to be up there with his career best.
by Selwyn Harris

muzycy:
Chris Potter - tenor and soprano saxophones, clarinets, flutes, sampler/keyboard
James Francies - piano, keyboards
Eric Harland - drums

utwory:
1. Sunrise and Joshua Trees 05:39
2. Southbound 08:17
3. Serpentine 11:10
4. The Peanut 05:12
5. Nowhere, Now Here/Sunrise Reprise 24:24

wydano: 14 maja 2021
nagrano: Recorded by Josh Giunta at GSI Studios 19th September 2020

more info: www.editionrecords.com