Joshua Redman brought his saxophone mastery to Miami, demonstrating the talent for which his playing, as well as his composing, has become renowned in the jazz world.
His performance last Friday night kicked off the winter portion of the 11th season of Jazz Roots, Miami’s iconic series, and was a demonstration of how he, along with three other top-notch musicians, can fill a 2,200-seat concert hall with the force of a symphony orchestra.
Although Redman, whose latest album “Still Dreaming,” (an album inspired by his father, saxophonist Dewey Redman) was recently nominated for a Grammy, he did not play any selections from that. He has said in interviews that he's rather reserve that music to play with the band with which it was recorded.
Instead, he performed a set list comprised of largely original compositions, with a few standards thrown in.
His choices showed off not only his virtuosity on the sax, but also the talents of the other musicians: Aaron Goldberg, with whom he’s played with for 20 years; The selection featured Grammy award-winning bassist Ben Williams, and Miami native Obed Calvaire, on drums, who Redman introduced to the audience as “your hometown conquering hero.” .” (The son of Haitian immigrants, Calvaire studied music at the New World School for the Arts, before heading to Manhattan’s School of Music, and working since then with Wynton Marsalis, Eddie Palmieri, David Foster, and many more.)
Although the soft-spoken Redman has a low-key, self-deprecating style, even after two decades of critical acclaim and seven Grammy nominations, he told an interviewer in 2014, “I don’t think that I’m that great, but I love to play music, and I think my love of music makes up for my lack of discipline and my lack of ability with it,” his mastery of his instrument clearly showed, from the first note to the last, that he is well-disciplined indeed.
Redman led off the concert with three of his own compositions - “Vast,” “How We Do,” “Borrowed Eyes.” You won’t find any of these on his 24-album discography since they’re brand new, although Redman promised they would be available “on some sort of format, CD or streaming, sometime soon,” said Redman.
All three were perfectly suited to show off the sax players' style, which is rich, soulful, and has been compared to his heroes, John Coltrane and Joe Henderson. “Borrowed Eyes,” in particular, was a show piece for Redman’s signature style, starting with his sax playing full and rich haunting notes, before the other musicians took over, with Williams plucking the tune on the bass, Goldberg letting loose on the piano, and Calvaire accenting the composition perfectly with his drums.
But don’t let the word “soulful” fool you into thinking that Redman can’t be exuberant. Even though one of his hallmarks is discipline, he was a joy to watch as well as listen too, as he stalked to the far corners of the stage to keep the focus on the other musicians, before almost literally jumping back into the piece.
It’s also Redman’s habit to showcase the work of his musicians, so Goldberg performed his original composition, “Shed,” a wonderful work, which began with the pianist playing just single notes, then a one handed run, before the others, especially Calvaire, entered, with his drum rolls cascading as the excitement of the piece built.
Although it was written in 1927, Redman’s playing of the Hoagy Carmichael “Stardust,” was one of the night’s standouts. This lush, dreamy and romantic ballad was perfectly suited to Redman’s soulful style, but, when the piece was supposed to draw to an end, it didn’t. Redman built a ladder of flourish to it that drew out the piece for seemingly several minutes, before ending. It was a wonderful reinvention of this classic. He also showed his gift for making jazz swing, leading the quartet through Charlie Parker’s “Bloomdido.”
When it came to performing his own composition, “DGAF,” Redman’s gentle self-depreciation was again on display, as he put on his glasses to peer at the music. “This just shows that, when it comes to playing my own tunes, I’m definitely not there,” he joked, and, after returning to the stage for an encore, his own composition “Hide and Seek,” he told the audience, “Well, I wasn’t sure you wanted more.” (They obviously did, as the raucous applause and the night’s standing ovation demonstrated.)
Redman and Goldberg’s original compositions weren’t the only new tunes the audience was treated to Friday night, the Frost Jazz Sextet opened the evening in a delightful performance with two original compositions by their members,“Saint Lucy,” by vibraphonist MacKenzie Karbone, and “Ancestros,” written by guitarist Aldo Salvant. (The other members were Charlie Christenson, vocals; Marty Quinn, bass; Greg Diamond, guitar; and Victor Valdez, drums.)
Shortly after the concert started, Redman told the audience that, although he recently frequents the Miami area (his wife had once lived here, he said), getting to do “a gig here,” was a rare pleasure.
