This month: Chris Potter
An interview with today’s finest jazz musicians
Multiple award-winning American composer and woodwind wrangler Chris Potter learned a variety of instruments during his formative years before deciding on the saxophone. His remarkable new album There Is A Tide (reviewed last issue) finds him revisiting these skills, playing all the instrumental parts himself. It’s certainly one way to sidestep the restrictions of lockdown, but as he says, ‘This is something I’d always wanted to do. I did it as a teenager, actually, so I thought now would be a good time to try it properly. Obviously, I now have a lot more experience, but also the technology has evolved to a point where you really can record at home and get high quality results.’
So how did he structure the music? ‘I laid out certain parameters, deciding that everything was going to be in either 3/4 or 4/4 because I wanted the grooves to be simple; I came up with those first, rather than melodies, then worked from there.’
Was the process an enjoyable challenge or one to be doggedly overcome? ‘Somewhere in between! I wasn’t necessarily going to release the results. But with everything that was happening I felt the need to express myself creatively, so I just dived into it without having a goal in mind except for making the music.’
The absence of the interaction that’s usually central to jazz was also relevant: ‘I had no one to bounce ideas off except myself,’ he says, ‘which was what I did. I’d also go back and make changes so, for example, a woodwind part might make me want to change a guitar part. It’s only because I had the time that I was able to do this, after which the compositions took on a life of their own.’
Was this an artistic stop-gap or a new source of inspiration? ‘I miss working with other musicians, particularly bass players and drummers who can really play! That said, I could do something like this again, but I’d like some time to pass. It did affect how I might think about composing in future, maybe using this method but not so that I’d end up playing everything in performance. Every project is about growth, so you move on having learned from what’s gone before.’ Roger Thomas
‘With everything that was happening, I felt the need to express myself creatively’