Chris Potter - The Sirens (2013) / contemporary, pillow jazz, ECM

The Sirens is acclaimed saxophonist Chris Potters ECM debut as a leader, an album of mood and melody inspired by The Odyssey both its epic atmosphere and its timeless humanity. Potter who has featured on many ECM albums by Dave Holland and Steve Swallow, as well as making a profound contribution to the contemporary classic Lost in a Dream with Paul Motian and Jason Moran has composed a cycle of irresistible songs without words. These pieces are conveyed by a subtly virtuosic, strikingly textured band: with Potter on tenor and soprano saxophones and bass clarinet, plus Craig Taborn (piano), David Virelles (prepared piano, celeste, harmonium), Larry Grenadier (double-bass) and Eric Harland (drums). Potter declaims lyrical lines over the dynamically inventive rhythm section, as coloristic keyboards shimmer like stars in the night sky.