Gratitude

1	The Source (For John Coltrane) 6:39
2	Shadow (For Joe Henderson) 5:50
3	Sun King (For Sonny Rollins) 7:01
4	High Noon (For Eddie Harris) 8:21
5	Eurydice (For Wayne Shorter) 6:02
6	The Mind's Eye Intro 0:44
7	The Mind's Eye (For Michael Brecker and Joe Lovano) 7:14
8	Gratitude 3:07
9	The Visitor (For Lester Young) 7:40
10	Body and Soul / Kevin Hayes For Coleman Hawkins 5:30
11	Star Eyes (For Charlie Parker) 5:23
12	Vox Humana (For Ornette Coleman) 5:26
13	What's New (For the Current Generation) 2:24

Barnes & Noble

At its worst, a “tribute album” in the jazz world can seem little more than a trite attempt to market rehashings of past styles. But while every cut on Chris Potter’s Gratitude is dedicated to “past masters,” the music itself is new, and the message is clear: This “tribute” album is less about heaping praise on the already much praised than focusing usefully on the continuity of jazz talent, including Potter’s own. This young player sees himself firmly planted in the great line of saxophone masters, and if that seems a tad audacious, he’s offering no apologies. Potter is good -- very, very good -- with an intensity, originality, and impatient experimentalism that keeps this album sounding fresh and cool throughout. He looks back to the older guys with respect and, well, gratitude, but he’s not afraid to wink in their direction, blow his own horn, and take the music forward. There is some great music on this disc. “High Noon” -- the number dedicated to Eddie Harris -- is a funky jam that kicks out with some fierce blowing and a smooth-as-butter groove, courtesy of Kevin Hays’s Fender Rhodes electric piano. You’d have a rough time finding Lester Young’s plaintive sound in Potter’s mad dash through “The Visitor,” but that doesn’t mean it isn’t a raucous, driving number with a heated tenor solo. On “Body & Soul” (“for Coleman Hawkins”) Potter takes up the bass clarinet for an amble that eases into an extended, swinging duet with bassist Scott Colley. He even gives the Chinese wood flute a try in a nod to Ornette Coleman’s legendary experimentalism on the slow, sensitive “Vox Humana.” The last cut on Gratitude is a two-and-a-half-minute swirling, noodling, swinging tenor solo titled simply “What’s New” and dedicated to “the current Generation.” If the other young cats were wondering, here’s Chris Potter’s take on the state of jazz in 2001. To judge from this latest outing, we’re in very good hands. Will Meyerhofer

All Music Guide

Saxophonist Chris Potter honors the legacy of some of jazz's greats on Gratitude, his debut for Verve. The award-winning virtuoso and composer is compelling on his tributes to John Coltrane, Eddie Harris, Wayne Shorter, Charlie Parker, and several other legendary saxophonists. Gratitude contains nine original compositions written by Potter, who plays tenor saxophone on the majority of the songs, switches to soprano saxophone on "Eurydice," his tribute to Wayne Shorter, and plays the alto saxophone and Chinese wood flute on "Star Eyes," the tribute to Charlie Parker. Chris Potter is outstanding on bass clarinet on his composition "The Visitor" for Lester Young and captures the ambience that reflects the many styles of these accomplished players, including sliding from one note to a higher or lower note with intermediate pitches on "The Source," his tribute to the glissandi (sheets of sound) of John Coltrane, and capturing the dense, soulful sound of Joe Henderson on "Shadow." Gratitude also includes a song titled "What's New," for the current generation which completes the set. Potter, leading his great quartet of contemporaries -- keyboardist Kevin Hayes, bassist Scott Colley, and drummer Brian Blade -- makes a significant contribution to jazz history with this project and offers musical statements and voices that are truly varied in scope and deep in their essence. Paula Edelstein