Chris Potter at Jazz sur son 31 in Toulouse: “Jazz is a language”
The concert of the Chris Potter Trio, this Thursday 14 at the Pavillon République of the Departmental Council in Toulouse, is undoubtedly one of the most awaited moments of a 35th edition of Jazz on its 31 high in emotion and color.
Born in 1971 in Chicago, Chris Potter is a saxophone virtuoso, capable of breathtaking flights and a complete musician, as his latest album, the fascinating “There is a Tide” attests. Accompanied by Craig Taborn (piano, Fender Rhodes) and Nasheet Waits (drums), Chris Potter will take us very high… Meeting.
This last disc is haunted by the pandemic …
Yes quite. Already, I recorded everything alone, far from my musician friends. I had to work, express my creativity and write, playing these songs on my own was my response to these strange experiences that we were having, all over the world.
Doing music seem like the only way to keep your sanity in shape?
Yes, and I was also saying to myself: “But what’s the point? I thought about what was falling on us, I was downcast, but I forced myself to play, it was stronger than me. And I remembered that I had felt the same way ten days after September 11, 2001. I had to perform somewhere, I was going backwards and, when I got on stage, I realized that the audience and I , not only did we want to be there, but more than that, we needed it. Because we are a community. We had to be together, to feel this energy between us that music allows.
You have released 15 albums and it is impossible to list your collaborations with the greatest musicians on the whole planet. What are you pushing forward?
Always this desire to meet people, live experiences, rub his music and his creativity with that of others, always look for ways to express his feelings, different means, original angles, inventor of new improvisations. How bored when playing with Pat Methany, Wayne Shorter, Dave Halland, Red Rodney? It’s an extraordinary choice: the same group will play the same song ten times in the same room and there will be ten different versions…
Why is jazz still so relevant in 2021?
Because it is more than music: a way of playing music. It is a language that you can speak and understand if you like rock, funk, Latin music, electro. A piece of jazz well taken in Madrid as in Oslo, it will send vibrations and waves of happiness.
It is constantly evolving: do you keep up to date with new jazz artists?
Not on a regular basis, but you know, if New York is a huge city, its community of jazz players is a very small village and we all know each other. Not a day without a friend telling me, “You listen to So-and-so …”
What will you be playing with loyal Craig and Nasheet?
You know, they are indeed faithful companions and I have played with them very often, but we have never produced for all three together, it will be a first! And what are we playing? No idea ! We’ll do it jazz style!