Live interview with Chris Potter on KBCS 91.3 Wednesday, February 27, at 10:30am with host John Gilbreath Make a reservation for this show.Chris Potter WebsiteChris Potter FacebookChris Potter TwitterChris Potter LIVEThe Pacific Jazz Institute at Dimitriou's Jazz Alley Band welcomes saxophonist Chris Potter for two nights touring in support of his new release The Sirens. Band members joining Mr. Potter are David Virelles (piano), Larry Grenadier (bass) and Eric Harland (drums). Set times on Tuesday and Wednesday at 7:30pm. Doors open at 5:30pm. A world-class soloist, accomplished composer and formidable bandleader, saxophonist Chris Potter has emerged as a leading light of his generation. DownBeat called him "One of the most studied (and copied) saxophonists on the planet" while Jazz Times identified him as "a figure of international renown." Jazz sax elder statesman Dave Liebman called him simply, "one of the best musicians around," a sentiment shared by the readers of DownBeat in voting him second only to tenor sax great Sonny Rollins in the magazine's 2008 Readers Poll.The Sirens is saxophonist Chris Potter's ECM debut as a leader, an album of mood and melody inspired by Homer's The Odyssey - both its epic atmosphere and its timeless humanity. Potter - who has featured on several ECM albums by his mentor Dave Holland, as well as collaborated with Paul Motian and Jason Moran on the contemporary classic Lost in a Dream - has composed a cycle of irresistible songs without words. "This is an unusual record for me - I came up with all the music in about two weeks, writing with a theme in mind," Potter explains. "I'd re-read The Odyssey after many years and was inspired to write music with that epic, mythic mood in mind. The Odyssey is all about the big themes set in bold relief - romantic adventure and a return to home, temptation and identity, life and death. But even though those themes take place in this archetypal space, they are things we all deal with today. The stories are ancient, but human emotions never change. So I aimed for the music to have a lyricism that stemmed from that timeless, very human mood - and there's nothing more human than melody." A potent improvisor and the youngest musician ever to win Denmark's Jazzpar Prize, Potter's impressive discography includes 15 albums as a leader and sideman appearances on over 100 albums. He was nominated for a Grammy Award for his solo work on "In Vogue," a track from Joanne Brackeen's 1999 album Pink Elephant Magic, and was prominently featured on Steely Dan's Grammy-winning album from 2000, Two Against Nature. He has performed or recorded with many of the leading names in jazz, such as Herbie Hancock, Dave Holland, John Scofield, the Mingus Big Band, Jim Hall, Paul Motian, Dave Douglas, Ray Brown and many others.Now a respected veteran (as well as a new father), Potter continues to work as a bandleader and featured sideman. Surely many interesting chapters are ahead. As his longtime colleague alto saxophonist-composer Dave Binney told Down Beat, "Chris is open to anything now. From here on anything could happen." -Bill Milkowski $22.50