JOSHUA REDMAN - Still Dreaming
Nonesuch Records: 7559-79330-8
Joshua Redman (tenor saxophone) Ron Miles (cornet) Scott Colley (bass) Brian Blade (drums) Recorded April 2-3rd 2017, New York
Joshua Redman, following in the footsteps of his late tenor sax playing father Dewey Redman has taken up the challenge of re-visiting and re-interpreting the musical ideas with which Ornette Coleman startled the jazz listening world back in 1959. Coleman’s insightful combination of atavistic country blues, rhythm and blues stridency and modal free-bop initially alienated the jazz audience but we quickly became acclimatised and accepted its innovative fusion of genres. In 1976, Don Cherry, Charlie Haden and Ed Blackwell – former Coleman Quartet alumni – joined with Dewey Redman, another Coleman associate who came to prominence as a member of Keith Jarret’s `American Quartet`, to form a group which became known as `Old and New Dreams` re-creating the Coleman sound and extending its remit with original compositions some of which reflected Cherry’s ethno-musical interests. The three or four recordings they made remain high in the estimation of jazz pundits and clearly sufficiently compelling to inspire Redman, the younger, to take up the project which provides him with a setting that elicits some of his best, most inventive, playing of recent recordings.
Coleman’s quartet music was essentially collaborative and interactive, its success due in no small part to the role of his sidemen, a term which seems hardly appropriate when one considers the power of Haden’s bass playing and Cherry’s primal call, and Redman is similarly blessed with a superb trio of musicians who know the musical antecedents they must reference but are possessed of such original talent that they make the music their own. Ron Miles cornet playing is a particular delight especially in way he adds colour and depth with the deft application of vibrato. Redman is a more evenly toned player than his father and his smooth, fulsome delivery adds another dimension to Coleman’s earthy fundamentalism and his powerful command of the blues idiom shines through even the most restless free-jazz passages.
All the usual Colmanesque traits are in evidence; the skittering runs, the jittery textures, intervallic high jinks and rudimentary melodies but this is no retro re-tread; the music is as fresh as new paint and invests the original aesthetic with a vitality that ensures its continued existence as a living tradition. Only one Coleman piece is covered, the plaintive dirge `Comme il Faut` from Ornette’s `Crisis` album whilst the `Old and New Dreams` repertoire is paid due respect by the inclusion of Charlie Haden’s `Playing`, a dialogue in free expression that unfolds with complete logic. The remaining compositions are all originals by Redman and Scott Colley, a wonderful bass player who with Brian Blade on drums negotiates the shifting tempi with flair and penetrating acuity. Of the individual pieces `Unanimity`, a staccato morse-code like theme, is a standout and , like most of the other pieces, delivers a level of exciting tension which often exceeds that generated by the original music.
Modern jazz should offer a challenging listening experience, after all that’s why we listen to it but whilst this music is provocative in its way, Redman is one of those musicians who knows how to bridge the genres with a seamless fluidity so that even those wedded to mainstream conventionality will recognise and rejoice in the jazz spirit that pervades the whole set. When Ornette and his band first struck up he was accused of amateurism and his ability to play properly called into question. It was his critics that weren’t listening properly but there can be no doubts of that nature directed at this project, it is clear from the opening bars that we are in the presence of master musicians in tune with the legacy of tradition and rejoicing in their technique whilst dreaming of new horizons.
Reviewed by Euan Dixon
Nonesuch Records: 7559-79330-8
Joshua Redman (tenor saxophone) Ron Miles (cornet) Scott Colley (bass) Brian Blade (drums) Recorded April 2-3rd 2017, New York
Joshua Redman, following in the footsteps of his late tenor sax playing father Dewey Redman has taken up the challenge of re-visiting and re-interpreting the musical ideas with which Ornette Coleman startled the jazz listening world back in 1959. Coleman’s insightful combination of atavistic country blues, rhythm and blues stridency and modal free-bop initially alienated the jazz audience but we quickly became acclimatised and accepted its innovative fusion of genres. In 1976, Don Cherry, Charlie Haden and Ed Blackwell – former Coleman Quartet alumni – joined with Dewey Redman, another Coleman associate who came to prominence as a member of Keith Jarret’s `American Quartet`, to form a group which became known as `Old and New Dreams` re-creating the Coleman sound and extending its remit with original compositions some of which reflected Cherry’s ethno-musical interests. The three or four recordings they made remain high in the estimation of jazz pundits and clearly sufficiently compelling to inspire Redman, the younger, to take up the project which provides him with a setting that elicits some of his best, most inventive, playing of recent recordings.
Coleman’s quartet music was essentially collaborative and interactive, its success due in no small part to the role of his sidemen, a term which seems hardly appropriate when one considers the power of Haden’s bass playing and Cherry’s primal call, and Redman is similarly blessed with a superb trio of musicians who know the musical antecedents they must reference but are possessed of such original talent that they make the music their own. Ron Miles cornet playing is a particular delight especially in way he adds colour and depth with the deft application of vibrato. Redman is a more evenly toned player than his father and his smooth, fulsome delivery adds another dimension to Coleman’s earthy fundamentalism and his powerful command of the blues idiom shines through even the most restless free-jazz passages.
All the usual Colmanesque traits are in evidence; the skittering runs, the jittery textures, intervallic high jinks and rudimentary melodies but this is no retro re-tread; the music is as fresh as new paint and invests the original aesthetic with a vitality that ensures its continued existence as a living tradition. Only one Coleman piece is covered, the plaintive dirge `Comme il Faut` from Ornette’s `Crisis` album whilst the `Old and New Dreams` repertoire is paid due respect by the inclusion of Charlie Haden’s `Playing`, a dialogue in free expression that unfolds with complete logic. The remaining compositions are all originals by Redman and Scott Colley, a wonderful bass player who with Brian Blade on drums negotiates the shifting tempi with flair and penetrating acuity. Of the individual pieces `Unanimity`, a staccato morse-code like theme, is a standout and , like most of the other pieces, delivers a level of exciting tension which often exceeds that generated by the original music.
Modern jazz should offer a challenging listening experience, after all that’s why we listen to it but whilst this music is provocative in its way, Redman is one of those musicians who knows how to bridge the genres with a seamless fluidity so that even those wedded to mainstream conventionality will recognise and rejoice in the jazz spirit that pervades the whole set. When Ornette and his band first struck up he was accused of amateurism and his ability to play properly called into question. It was his critics that weren’t listening properly but there can be no doubts of that nature directed at this project, it is clear from the opening bars that we are in the presence of master musicians in tune with the legacy of tradition and rejoicing in their technique whilst dreaming of new horizons.
Reviewed by Euan Dixon
