There is a Tide

Albumbeschreibung

With There is a Tide, Chris Potter has made a good showing, surrounding himself with Chris Potter on piano, Chris Potter on guitar, Chris Potter on bass, Chris Potter on clarinet, Chris Potter on flute, Chris Potter on drums and, of course, Chris Potter on saxophone! The American jazzman had fun by taking sole charge of all the instruments on this album. This exercise could have been nothing more than an amusing footnote, but the virtuoso impresses with his overall vision and the care he brings to the work as a whole, both in execution and in composition. "On a technical level, making this recording required the use of many different skills, I’ve never been so acutely aware of my limitations.  In addition to the difficulty of trying to get good performances on every instrument, there was the challenge of recording without a proper studio.  Most importantly, there was the necessity of letting the big picture unfold as I went along, paying attention to details while remaining focused on the goal of creating a coherent, unified whole.". Potter was also wise not to centre his record exclusively around the pandemic, and brings in themes like I Had a Dream which evokes the Black Lives Matter movement. "I offer it as a musical perspective on the issues we are facing:  the importance of community at a time of physical distance, the need for strong leadership, the necessity of supporting vulnerable members of society who have always gotten the short end of the stick, the troubled relationship we have with the natural world, and the difficulty of dealing with all the fear and uncertainty we face." The saxophonist is equally aware of the fact that his message can be communicated without words. "Of course part of the beauty of instrumental music is how its meaning is defined by the listener, but these are some of the thoughts I had while creating it."© Clotilde Maréchal/Qobuz