Chris Potter Underground’s Ultrahang is simultaneously pleasing and disappointing. Pleasing because saxophonist Potter, drummer Nate Smith, keyboardist Craig Taborn, and guitarist Adam Rogers create such inviting timbral tapestries woven into heavy grooves. Disappointing because it’s easy to expect something fresh and new from the wildly talented Potter, but Ultrahang is merely an extension of Follow the Red Line (2007) and Underground (2006), the group’s two previous albums.
Chris Potter Underground builds on a funk and rock foundation. The sparse harmonic content allows for the group to create long periods of a single, slowly evolving atmosphere, and also provides room for the virtuosi to tear into pointed, angular, and gestural solos. The latter is where Potter excels particularly, having practically defined the contemporary approach to intense and yet precise jazz shredding. These ingredients make for a highly accessible concoction, because the rather verbose improvisation remains secondary to the groove. It’s a way for Potter and his group to have their cake and eat it too.
Touring consistently for the past three years, Underground hasn’t so much developed their sound as they have branded it. It is more exciting to think about what Potter will come up with once he has exhausted the possibilities with Underground than what he will accomplish with it. On the other hand, if where Potter has been and where he is headed is of no concern, there is no better place to look for infectious, deep grooves.
Highlights:
- Facing East – an ominous song that Potter begins on tenor saxophone, and then switches to bass clarinet for a biting solo. Then he switches back to tenor! Adam Roger’s guitar solo begins sounding like the theme song to the original Law and Order. Craig Taborn’s occasional rings in the high register give the song an ethereal element.
- It Ain’t Me Babe – Potter and band mates turn this Bob Dylan classic into a yearning ballad. Potter plays his interpretation of the melody on bass clarinet, after which Taborn plays a muted Rhodes solo. Potter switches to saxophone for the second half of the song, which he ornaments, growing restless and mournful as the song closes.
- Boots – a standard in Underground’s live repertoire, “Boots” is simple tune built around some rhythmic unpredictability. It is an example of the jam band aesthetic of this group. The repetition gains a momentum that could allow it to groove endlessly.
- Chris Potter – Tenor Saxophone, Bass Clarinet
- Craig Taborn – Fender Rhodes
- Adam Rogers – Guitar
- Nate Smith – Drums
- Ultrhang
- Facing East
- Rumples
- It Ain’t Me, Babe
- Time’s Arrow
- Small Wonder
- Boots
- Interstellar Signals
Release Date:
June 1st, 2009 on ArtistShare Records
Personnel:
Track List:
