APPLETON — Limitless creativity and a vibrant sense of swing drive the style of composer, multi-reedman and Grammy Award nominee Chris Potter. Hailed by critics as the finest saxophonist of his generation, Potter and his quartet, Underground, performs Friday, Feb. 8 at 8 p.m. in the Lawrence Memorial Chapel, 510 E. College Ave., as part of the 2007-08 Lawrence University Jazz Series. Prior to his concert, Potter will conduct a master class at 2 p.m. in Shattuck Hall, Room 46.
Tickets for the concert, at $22-20 for adults, $19-17 for seniors, and $17-15 for students, are available through the Lawrence University Box Office, 920-832-6749.
A 1993 graduate of the Manhattan School of Music, Potter has performed throughout Europe, Canada and the United States with such renowned artists as Mingus Big Band, Dave Holland and Dave Douglas. His performance at Lawrence will be his quartet’s last stop in the country before embarking on an international tour that will take them to Spain, Italy, Norway and Germany.
Potter, whom Down Beat magazine describes as “daring yet precise, with clean edges and unexpected implications…he is something special,” earned a Grammy nomination in 1999 for Best Instrumental Jazz Solo and was the youngest-ever recipient of Denmark’s Jazzpar Prize the following year.
His discography includes 13 releases, including 1998’s, “Vertigo,” which was named one of the year’s top ten CDs by both Jazziz and The New York Times, the critically acclaimed “Gratitude” in 2001, which pays tribute to his many musical influences, and his two newest discs, “Follow the Red Line” and “Song For Anyone,” both released in September.
Potter’s style evolved from a variety of influences, including his parents’ record collection, which introduced him to everything from Bach to the Beatles, Schoenberg to Indonesian gamelan. At the age of three he was fooling around on guitar and piano and played his first jazz gig at the age of 13. By the time he graduated from high school, Potter was playing alto, tenor and soprano saxophone, bass clarinet and alto flute.
His aesthetic today is based on jazz greats such as Charlie Parker and Sonny Rollins blended with more contemporary harmonic and rhythmic concepts and influences from all styles of music, including classical, world music, funk, rock, rap and country “to keep the freshness alive.”
