# CD review: Chris Potter – Sunrise Reprise 2021: Video, CD cover

- Link: https://jazzblues.eu/2021/05/14/cd-review-chris-potter-sunrise-reprise-2021-video-cd-cover/
- Published: 2021-05-14T00:29:09+01:00
- Author: https://JazzBlues.EU

**It’s barely six months since Chris Potter single-handedly created the best jazz
album of 2020. Back then, social distancing dictated that he play all the saxes,
guitars, keyboards and drums. Triumph though that was, he has wasted no time in 
getting back in the studio with his trio colleagues James Francies and Eric Harland.
_Sunrise Reprise_ is another exercise in uplift — late Coltrane spirituality enlivened
with infectious grooves.**

A prodigious figure in the contemporary jazz world for many decades, saxophonist/
composer Chris Potter constantly makes waves at every release. _Sunrise Reprise_,
the second installment of his acclaimed Circuits Trio – featuring the formidable
keyboardist James Francies and the dynamic drummer Eric Harland – consists of a 
five-track program that, navigating an interesting tonal spectrum, generates a technically
perfect circuitry of ultra-modern sounds combined in its electric and acoustic forms.

Recorded in the midst of an imposed New York City lockdown, the album kicks off 
with “_Sunrise and Joshua Trees_”, a soaring contemplation delicately crafted with
Francies’ adept textures. The tune’s glowing atmosphere has a dreamlike quality 
occasionally stirred by laser-like synth beams and progressively engulfed by deep
bass notes that stimulate Potter’s advanced vocabulary.

The saxophonist’s echo-laced melodies hit us with soulfulness on “_Southbound_”,
where Harland makes an incredible impact as soon as he gets down to business. Francies
doesn’t stop to excel, unleashing here a momentous improvisation on top a levitating
atmosphere that he created himself.

“_Serpentine_” is made of recoiling trajectories and sliding friction, emerging 
as a hip fusion piece built on the grounds of funk. Moreover, it exhibits a hip-
hop-ish vibe in the language as well as fiery post-bop chromatics injected by Potter’s
effect-laden horn.

Denoting an even-tempered posture, “_The Peanut_” plays like a ballad, carrying 
harmonic brilliance and melodic lucidity.

The trio concludes with the 24-plus-minute “_Nowhere, Now Here / Sunrise Reprise_”,
a triangulated open drift which muddles through many complex layers, labyrinthine
corridors, and spatially dynamic vamping sections. Following an unadorned introduction
with flute and percussion, the group plasticizes through groove-centered avenues
guided by busier bass offerings. At that point, a blend of funk energy and precise
post-bop dynamics push the soloists to their most eloquent drive and cutting-edge
musicality.

Luxuriating in individual freedom and tight collective interplay, _Sunrise Reprise_
may not reach the heights of the Circuit Trio’s eponymous debut, but guarantees 
plenty of groove and atmospherics to keep you permanently connected.

**Personnel **

Chris Potter: tenor and soprano saxophones, flute, clarinet, sampler;

James Francies: piano, keyboards;

Eric Harland: drums.

![Chris Potter | Sunrise Reprise - Edition Records](https://i0.wp.com/editionrecords.
com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/EDN1171_SunRiseReprise_Packshot-1500x1500-1.jpg?w
=640&ssl=1)

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