With Alive With Ghosts Today, Chris Potter pays tribute to a historical figure of abolitionism in the United States: John Brown. Highly controversial, even within the progressive community of the time, the Connecticut native was labelled a “fanatic” by Abraham Lincoln. It must be said that Brown participated, a few years before the Civil War, in several bloody battles against slaveholding settlers, or even against a federal arsenal, the famous raid on Harpers Ferry. It was following this last raid that he was captured and hanged for treason.
John Brown has remained in memory as one of the first famous figures associated with the abolition of slavery, but his violent actions against whites prevented him from becoming a cult figure in the American psyche. Nothing surprising about that, of course. Before he died, he declared to the audience present:
If I had done what I did for the Whites, or for the rich, no one would have blamed me.
No doubt about it. And we would probably be flooded with movies and merchandise featuring him.
Despite the crass hypocrisy that continues to weigh down American society in general, the memory of the man, and especially the cause he defended, remains present. From time to time, it comes back to the forefront.
This extensive album, constructed like a vast chamber suite, modern and expressive, is an example of this. Potter has gathered an extraordinary ensemble around him. Saxophones, a guitar (exceptional Bill Frisell), a rhythm section, a clarinet, a trombone, and a violin, in a framework that allows for a reasonable exploration of colours (that is, in an accessible and non-experimental context).
Through the eight tracks of the album, Potter guides us into his universe, both evocative and abstract. Echoes of funk, blues, Coplandesque harmonies, and folk blend with complex yet immediately comprehensible constructions. The harmonies are contemporary, although heavily influenced by Hard Bop. The melodies are very powerful, and carry adornments inherited from Coltrane or Shorter, but from a perspective largely informed by a very soul, very Afro Power groove.
Alive With Ghosts Today is an important and significant album, one of the very best of 2026.
Chris Potter Tenor and Soprano Saxophones
Bill Frisell Guitar
Burniss Travis Bass
Nate Smith Drums
Rane Moore Clarinet
Zekkereya El-magharbel Trombone
Sara Caswell Violin
