Jan. 29--Thursday nights in January do not typically draw large audiences to the Jazz Showcase. But there was nothing typical about this Thursday night.
For starters, the Showcase tends to feature local musicians in the early weeks of the year, as a hedge against winter weather that can keep audiences away. Why risk the expense of putting up musicians in a hotel, the thinking goes, when cold-temperature doldrums mean listeners might stay home?
There's much to be said, however, for the alternative strategy the Showcase has pursued this week: Bring in a major artist who will attract die-hard fans no matter what the weather. That theory paid off handsomely this time around, and not only with the large and enthusiastic crowd that packed the place.
Chris Potter has been visiting the Showcase -- in its various locations -- since he was a teenage saxophonist being introduced to the world by bebop trumpet legend Red Rodney. Those of us fortunate enough to have heard those early performances, nearly three decades ago, were struck by the precocity of Potter's work. Now, at 45, Potter stands as one of the most imposing soloist-composer-bandleaders in jazz, a multifaceted musician who pushes at the outer edges of the mainstream.
Or perhaps it's more accurate to describe Potter's art as a foray into a musical syntax of his own making, a heady mixture of irregular rhythm and aggressive swing, unusual melodic intervals and bebop-inspired runs, decidedly unconventional meters and ever-shifting tempos. There's no way to get too comfortable with anything Potter is playing, because once you've figured out his methodology in any particular passage, he's off to another.
That was especially the case this time around, for Potter and his exceptional quartet were trying out new music, in preparation for an album they will record in March.
"This is kind of a first draft," Potter told the house, before launching into a full set of previously unheard compositions.
Everyone in the band followed written scores closely, though if you'd had your eyes closed you wouldn't have guessed it, judging by the freedom of this playing and, especially, the expressive breadth of Potter's solos.
Potter hit hard on tenor saxophone from the outset, dispatching angular, two-note riffs that eventually blossomed into more ornate phrasemaking. Drummer Marcus Gilmore built up considerable rhythmic thrust behind him, while pianist David Virelles' florid right-hand playing and bassist Joe Martin's relentless drive hinted at storms yet to come.
Potter followed this remarkable curtain-raiser with a still-more complex work, his gnarly gestures on tenor saxophone counterbalanced by his searing lines on soprano.
He turned to bass clarinet for an opus that might be called a ballad, at least in terms of its hushed dynamic levels and fundamentally lyrical themes. But Potter crafted melody lines that veered far from sentimentality, consistently sidestepping the obvious turn of phrase, the openly emotional climax, the easy way out. There was as much intellect as heart in this playing, Potter's sinuous themes re-emerging in warmly stated form via bassist Martin's fervently stated solo. Pianist Virelles' Chopinesque lines on piano enriched the atmosphere of it all and set the stage for Potter's pivot to tenor saxophone in more combustive compositions that followed.
The full-throttle music that closed the set reminded listeners that Potter can play straight-ahead when he so chooses, though even here one was struck by the harmonic sophistication of all the music at hand. As the musicians moved from one work to another, sometimes without pause, it was clear they were starting to find the potential in this still-forming repertoire.
That process of discovery continues through Sunday. It should be quite a ride.
Howard Reich is a Tribune critic.
hreich@tribpub.com
When: 8 and 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday; 4 and 8 p.m. Sunday
Where: Jazz Showcase, 806 S. Plymouth Court
Tickets: $30-$45; 312-360-0234 or www.jazzshowcase.com
