Many greats have made live albums at the famed Village Vanguard, but Got the Keys to the Kingdom brings saxophonist Chris Potter’s total to three, after Lift (2004) and Follow the Red Line (2007). Lift featured bassist Scott Colley, who appears again here alongside pianist Craig Taborn (from Follow the Red Line) and drummer Marcus Gilmore. What sets Keys apart is the exclusive focus on covers, a striking move for an artist so heavily invested in composing. To add to that, Mississippi Fred McDowell’s “You Gotta Move”, famously played by The Rolling Stones, is not the first thing you’d expect from a group so thoroughly versed in postbop and modern jazz. Here and on the closing title track, there’s a flavour of old-time source material informing the group’s language, as Potter and company work with the melodic motives and static harmony to forge new improvisational frameworks. Charlie Parker’s uncommon “Klactoveedsedstene” (a hybrid of “Perdido” and “Lady Be Good” chord changes) is the jazz burner of the set, while Billy Strayhorn’s “Blood Count” bears comparison with Potter’s treatment of “Lotus Blossom” on the 2006 release Underground. A Brazilian subtheme crops up as well with “Olha Maria” and “Nozani Na”—the latter an Amazonian indigenous song recorded by Milton Nascimento on Txai.