2009 · Album
Ultrahang
Recorded 2009 · ArtistShare · Personnel: Chris Potter (saxophone), Craig Taborn (keyboards), Adam Rogers (guitar), Nate Smith (drums)
Where Potter's Band Finally Arrives
A band that knows exactly what it wants to sound like, and how to get there together.
If you're new to Chris Potter, start here. Ultrahang arrives at a point where Potter's working band has stopped experimenting with its identity and started perfecting it. The core group—Potter on saxophone, Craig Taborn on keys, Adam Rogers on guitar, and Nate Smith on drums—has been together long enough to anticipate each other, which means they can take real risks. The music sits in a pocket that combines funk's forward momentum with jazz harmony and a willingness to pull from anywhere: M-Base mathematics, fusion, even hints of pop melody. It's muscular and textured without sounding academic.
What makes this band distinctive is how it refuses to let any single voice dominate. Potter's saxophone doesn't lead so much as negotiate; Taborn's keyboards are sometimes synth-heavy, sometimes acoustic, always active without cluttering; Rogers' guitar plays rhythm as often as it plays lines; and Smith's drumming is the real heartbeat—precise but swinging, never obvious. The album documents a band that has learned to be gritty and experimental at the same time. According to All About Jazz critic John Kelman, the group "speaks with a clear voice that incorporates elements of M-Base mathematics, funk, fusion, and folkloric pop references into a unique mélange." This is what that balance actually sounds like in practice.
By this point in Potter's career, he'd already established himself, but Ultrahang shows a band confident enough to explore without losing its footing. It's a record that works equally well as a snapshot of a specific ensemble and as proof that this particular group of musicians knew what they were doing together.
