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When saxophonist Joshua Redman arrived on the jazz scene 18 years ago, it marked a new phase in a healthy jazz revival that has propelled the music into Lincoln Center and other upper reaches of institutionalized culture. Redman’s latest release, Compass may, again, signal a new and important phase in jazz.
The release is Redman’s second since his return from a productive decade out west, and it continues his focus with small ensembles. On his 2007 release, Back East, he began working in a sax-bass-drums trio setting. Few saxophonists have adapted such a spare context as it invites comparison to the classic Sonny Rollins trio recordings of the late ‘50s. Redman took up the challenge and even acknowledged it. His recording Back East (the title is a nod to Rollins’ 1957 trio disc Way Out West) was hailed as one of the best jazz recordings of 2007.
His new disc, Compass, further expands the language of this new band. Redman plays with top bassists Larry Grenadier and Reuben Rogers as well as drummers Brian Blade and Gregory Hutchinson. Many of the tracks are in trio format, but on a few the ensemble expands to include either both bassists or both drummers and all five musicians play on a few tunes. Yet the variety of settings never infringe on the intimacy of the music or its austerity. Redman’s groups make lean, appealing music; the sound is nimble, and his band mates race from one set of rhythms to another without sounding random or disjointed. It’s the best argument in jazz today; less is more.
Great things have been expected from Redman from the outset of his career. In 1991, Redman’s arrival gave jazz great potential for becoming a mainstream presence. Redman was—and still is—good looking, charming. And he has a compelling back story. He is the son of a jazz great, late saxophonist Dewey Redman, but initially he had chosen a different path. He graduated from Harvard summa cum laude in 1991 and was about to enter Yale Law School, when he decided to take a year off and dabble in the family business. That fall he won the prestigious Thelonious Monk jazz competition and decided to abandon his legal ambitions. Redman fast tracked through the jazz world; he has a broad distinctive tone, and his band nurtured the development of several important musicians including Blade and pianist Brad Mehldau.
In the late ‘90s, he returned to his native Bay Area and built the SFJAZZ Festival into an international force. Under his direction, the festival expanded to yearlong programming and its primary event is the premiere American autumn jazz festival. He also launched a large ensemble, the SFJAZZ Collective, which has become a top-tier ensemble, both through their superb renditions of classic jazz and commissions of contemporary pieces. The band’s innovative arrangements are cited by many as influencing the trend toward bigger groups on today’s jazz scene. Two years ago in search of a new challenge, Redman resigned his posts on the West Coast, moved back to the Northeast and began working in the trio format.
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There'z alwayz mo' @
http://theblackwhole.wordpress.com
Whatever else people say...
2 key qualitiez that make any city great
are it'z people n' tha shit they're doin'...
What wuz happenin' in Bern onna Tuezday night @ Silo
a supersharp world class night spot
wuz easily n' by far some a' tha hippest shit yer likely ta hear
or see anywhere in tha World
Seriously-
but a touch a' class n' context 1st...
Long b/4 Hip Hop became
the chief cultural export from the states
there wuz Jazz...
n' it wuz good.
Tha Black men n' women
who were the originatorz a' this sound
--theze Emissariez a' Improvisation--
formed a school a' music n' thought
backed by skillz endless practice n' innovation
action n' evidence
that tha world sa-wingz to to this very day b'cuz - Jazziz!
...n' if you asked yerself, "Jazz is what?" - well then
we need ta resuscitate yer existence
b'cuz in tha real world ev'ry sentence
dudn't have a direct or even an indirect object
that'z jus'
typical prescriptive western bullshit.
Tha People knew this
n' came from 'round tha World
ta study n' play with theze True Masterz
you know them...
Miles Billie Coltrane Parker
Ella Dizzy Bessie Ellington - All Black
n' on n' on n' on...
Most a' ya can name mo' Jazz Musicianz
than presidentz or prime ministerz - Why iz that?
Theze catz we heard n' saw jammin' were mo' livin' breathin'
proof that we weren't meant ta sit in cubicles
or pseudo offices All Day
suckin' up to the man fer a bourgeois existence
like it wuz more important than oxygen
It wuz Liiiiiive Jazz
n' It wuz Good,
That'z Why!
...n' might I remind you
this wuz onna Tuezday...
Toppin' it off
although they were all
born n' bred in Bern
[tha capital city a' Switzerland],
they smoked any ensemble
I'd seen in the states in quite some time
n' I wuz raised on this shit
it iz no passin' preoccupation
--I buy music b/4 I buy food--
n' although
they were a' no colorful persuasion
I needed none ta know
that they were my Spiritual Brothaz,
n' that iz yet anotha inherent power a' Jazz
which like Hip Hop
transcendz all borderz n' colorz like no other
no matter how much shit other people talk.
That iz also tha inherent power a' bein' Black
anywhere in tha World, so...Who'z yer Daddy?
Jazziz!...n' it iz Good!
Tha entire 6 - 7 piece crew wuz tight
drummer standup bass rhythm guitarist keyboardist
1 - 2 saxophonists tag-teamin' n'/or together
n' a trumpeter.
They glistened...
They opened with tha Goodz
Monk'z 'Straight No Chaser'
n' true ta tha name they poured Game
from thoze instrumentz n' dosed
an entirely enthusiastic audience with tha sickest sound!
Tha cat on tha keyz played with a deep rawness poised
like 200 proof truth, like he couldn't hide tha love if he tried
All from a song that representz
a standard HIGH above anything
that'd ever show up on some fuckin' test
Oh My God...Jazziz!
Then they went into an 'A-Train' a' lightnin' grace
jus' elegant Ellington
Fuuuuuuuuuck
What wuz goin' on here!?
They were what wuz goin' on - both setz - Straight Dope 8 P
Tha guitarist wuz layin' linez a' sonic drug unlike anythang illegal - jus' b'cuz...
tha drummer rumbled tha spectrum from thunder ta soft rain...
tha saxophonists were practiced
@ droppin' scaldin' Hot Jazz
on you az a courtesy...
Tha audience wuz hip ta this
Down, Listenin'...Appreciative
n' don't get me started on tha bass player
he wuz thumpin' in layerz
...n' tha trumpeter...
Oh MY GOD
jus' stop.
He played like a proud panther
like someone huntin' soundz
he hadn't heard yet...
He pumped notez
like tranzlucent blood
inside yer head...
He soared
n' he
wore
It
Together they jammed az if livin'
n' playin' like this wuz illegal - they'd jus'
roll tha shit up n' hand it out All Day
like it wuz Halloween
Christmas
n' Easter
...nothin' but Phat Jazz Spliffs!
We got treated-
n' it wuz a Mos' Delicious Felony
Once theze guyz realize
that their audience idn't jus' in Bern
but Worldwide...
OH MY GOD!!!
We're talkin' tha end a' tha world az we know...We talkin' mo' white boyz on death row!
It iz also a capital crime
that we did not get tha trumpeter'z name
for he iz truly a Royal BadAss-
n' thus tha title a' this work...
Jazziz! - Tha man with the red silk shirt
[Unfortunately
we had ta punk out early
'round about 1am
so we didn't get ta hang out with theze catz
EPICENTER-style like ya know we do
P'haps next time...
Az luck would have it
I had my Bad Boy tape recorder with me
n' figured I might az well document some a' this
n' they did NOT disappoint...in fact...They Fucked Shit Up!
Fer realz - It iz a testament ta my respect fer their skillz
that I'm not bootleggin' their shit
ta you right now.
n' don't go frownin' on tha activity
idn't that how Joe Kennedy got rich?
"Why yes, Rose, bootlegging can be lucrative."]
But check it - yer in luck
There'z an even tastier treat
in tha next Freebooty Musical PSD...
n' Why?
'cuz it'z a Jazz World, baby...
Believe that.
--Pip
It's always great to read about the Jazz stars outside of the traditional Jazz publications. This great but neglected art form needs more exposure to todays generation of music lovers... with little if any exposure on television, radio, movies and the Internet (it is growing within the Internet largely due to the low overhead needed to present it) young people of today and tomorrow may ask the question "what is Jazz"?
Carl David Farley