For example, Hays’ effect-treated Fender Rhodes in the latter half of the Bill Stewart composition “7.5” is both a throwback to the early days of jazz pianists’ experiments with the instrument and a nod at techno. Though the credits list Potter as playing only tenor sax, he takes up soprano for “Okinawa.” The piece’s opening section is as delicate and light as crisp falling snow. It’s the disk’s most introspective moment, but the track builds into a rhythmic maelstrom in its second half. Potter’s soprano work recalls Coltrane, as does much of the second half of the number. Colley and Stewart keep things chugging along while Hays offers a supportive layer of floating chords and Potter swirls and careens atop the entire thing.

Most of the tracks here are Potter originals, save for the Stewart composition and versions of “Stella By Starlight” and Mingus’ “Boogie Stop Shuffle.” Potter beings “Stella” on soprano, using the instrument to state the melody. His playing here is very lyrical and has much less of the muscular Coltrane-ish sound used on “Okinawa.” Following Hays’ solo, Potter comes back in on tenor sax, offering a warm, confident tone with no vibrato. Potter brings to mind both Stan Getz and Dexter Gordon at various times, but he also has no fear of getting more robust on a ballad. “Boogie Stop Shuffle” starts with Potter playing the song’s bluesy riff in the lower register of the horn and sounding somewhat like a baritone sax. Hays follows with a solo that begins on Fender Rhodes, but switches very quickly to acoustic. The switch sounds like an edit because of the swiftness with which it is made, and that made me wonder a little about the way the entire album was edited/spliced. But that’s a relatively small quibble as the track keeps its energy going throughout its more than fifteen minute length. The piece is preceded by Potter’s a capella tenor solo, listed as “Boogie Stop Shuffle Sax Intro.”

Potter’s clearly has respect for the bop and post-bop jazz traditions, but he also pushes these styles further out with forays into much freer playing that demonstrate a great deal of confidence in his own voice. Lift: Live at the Village Vanguard makes it clear that Potter is one of the best of the younger generation of tenor players working today, and raises anticipation for his next recording.