How does this make you feel about your own playing?

[princeplanet]

[Litterick]

A young man in a hurry. I prefer to take my time.

[princeplanet]

He got this good between the ages of 10 and 14 ...

[mr. beaumont]

I think I'll do some practicing today.

[AllanAllen]

Which one is Chris Potter? I liked the guitar solo better than the sax.

[princeplanet]

He's the one holding the sax.

[jazznylon]

Nothing. I already accepted the fact that there will always be someone out there better than me. I started late after all

[AllanAllen]

He's the one holding the sax.

okay then. He plays really clean for how fast it is which is kind of impressive in a non-musical way.

I never need to hear it again though.

[Christian Miller]

I’ve heard this before. Absolute mayhem haha. I love that ‘we’re in the money’ quote.

Should it make me feel anything about my playing? My playing is what it is. I think I’m making progress?

It’s not like Chris was the sax player he is today at this age even though he was already playing much better than any of us could hope to at that age. He’d probably tell you the same thing.

Potter today is one of my favourite musicians.

I think the relationship with my own playing has to be separated off from the enjoyment of other peoples music however young and brilliant they are.

[grahambop]

I should think Potter even makes most sax players want to chuck in the towel, so guitarists should get a free pass.

There’s also that thing he did at a masterclass:

[rpjazzguitar]

Even the greatest players may succomb to the feeling that they'll never achieve their goals.

No matter how good you are at what you do, sooner or later, you'll hear somebody who does something else that is just overwhelming great. And, you'll think, I wish I could do that.

You're one of a stream of people climbing a mountain. You can look up, or you can look down.

[Christian Miller]

And if you achieve your goal, there’s always another

[Jimmy blue note]

I could play those same notes when I was 10. Just in a different order and slower.

[AllanAllen]

What gig?

[princeplanet]

...
It’s not like Chris was the sax player he is today at this age even though he was already playing much better than any of us could hope to at that age. He’d probably tell you the same thing.

...

I'm pretty sure most sax players would be happy to play that well after 40 years practice . As for the modern Potter, I have seen him live and clearly recall saying to myself that what I was hearing was probably the best sax playing I've ever heard in terms of just total command of tone, phrasing, ideas, technique, you name it. Probably surpassed even Brecker (which, for a while I thought would be impossible). Regardless, a lot of it doesn't really connect with me somehow - probably due to my relatively unsophisticated taste ( I prefer pre '61 Coltrane to his late period, for example). But hearing him at 14 made me realise that he could do the things I like and admire, even at a ridiculously young age! Obviously he progressed since then in ways he felt he needed to. Not the first time that a player "progresses" beyond a point where they escaped my ability to appreciate what they were doing (Trane, Shorter, Rollins, even Pat Martino..)

To answer my own question, how does it make me feel? Inspired in one sense, that it's humanly possible to improve so much in a short time. But in another sense, utterly demoralised to face up to the reality that it would take me probably a couple of lifetimes (if I'm lucky) to touch that space. I only heard it once, and it was so good, I'm too afraid to listen to it again!

[Christian Miller]

What gig?

what people?

this is jazz, baby.

[kris]

okay then. He plays really clean for how fast it is which is kind of impressive in a non-musical way.

I never need to hear it again though.

The saxophonist plays at the highest world level.
I would recommend listening to it a few more times.

[Litterick]

I am not in the slightest troubled that someone is exceptionally good at playing an instrument at a young age. I am not bothered by those teenage virtuoso guitarists. They do their thing and I do mine. It saddens me, though, to know others feel inferior or to them or disheartened by their skill. Precocious teenagers are best avoided.

[kris]

I am not in the slightest troubled that someone is exceptionally good at playing an instrument at a young age. I am not bothered by those teenage virtuoso guitarists. They do their thing and I do mine. It saddens me, though, to know others feel inferior or to them or disheartened by their skill. Precocious teenagers are best avoided.

We live in such times .... the Internet etc.

[Christian Miller]

I don’t know - being around talented musicians boosts your level. If you avoid them you won’t get to play with them, and while you may never catch up it will boost your playing…

[Litterick]

I meant avoid them on YouTube. Real life is another matter.

[kris]

I meant avoid them on YouTube. Real life is another matter.

+1
great intelligent sentence.

[AllanAllen]

The saxophonist plays at the highest world level.
I would recommend listening to it a few more times.

I like this saxophone better.

[Jimmy blue note]

I don’t know - being around talented musicians boosts your level.

I go see Jerry Bergonzi every week, it's a perk of living in my town. I always feel inspired and being around that level of playing keeps my perspective centred.
I asked him about playing live vs studio. He said a studio recording is a lot leaner, and in live situations, exploration is a regular and integral part of the process. Then he said to me "What does a sax player call an eighth note rest?... a missed opportunity".

[John A.]

Gee, if that Potter kid keeps practicing he might eventually learn to play the saxophone.

I guess there wasn’t much doubt around the Potter dinner table about what little Christopher was going to be when he grew up.