From its inception, the Blue Note label has stood for “The Finest In Jazz.” The same can be said for Joshua Redman. Over the past three decades, the saxophonist, composer, and bandleader has consistently demonstrated how to honor the music’s verities while expanding its reach in contemporary settings. On where are we, Redman’s first recording as a Blue Note artist, he delivers one of his most challenging and compelling albums to date, in a program featuring typically brilliant supporting partners and (in a first for Redman) built around a dynamic vocalist.
Redman admits that an entire project with voice had long been at the back of his mind. “Doing a record with a vocalist was something I thought I’d probably get to eventually,” he explains, laughing, “but that ‘eventually’ was starting to sound like glorified procrastination or avoidance!… Honestly, I think I was kind of torn. I’ve always had a sort of ‘rhythm section envy’ — wishing I could be more of an embedded participant in an underlying, supportive groove — but at the same time, I think in my primary role as a saxophonist in instrumental groups, I was used to being a lead voice, and I secretly didn’t want to relinquish all that melodic control! Maybe being locked down during the pandemic gave me time (too much time!) to think about all of this… I guess I decided I was ‘ready.’”
He found the perfect partner in young vocalist Gabrielle Cavassa. “I had maybe heard Gabrielle’s name from her time in the Bay Area,” Redman notes, “but I wasn’t at all familiar with her music. One night in the Fall of 2021, my manager texted me in the middle of Gabrielle’s performance at a party in New Orleans. ‘You’ve got to hear this young lady,’ she said. ‘This is not a concert, it’s a casual event, and she is just riveting.’ Once I heard Gabrielle, I realized that she has an expressive quality and an intimacy and a vulnerability in her sound that is singularly captivating.”
Having found a collaborator, Redman embarked on what proved to be a unique process. “Most of my previous recordings grew out of bands that had played and toured together consistently, and eventually developed a vibe and chemistry and repertoire to the point where we felt like we had to record. But in this case, while I had worked with each of the other instrumentalists many times before in a wide variety of settings, we hadn’t yet played all at the same time in the same group; and Gabrielle and I had literally never made a note of music together.”
The resulting program is “not really about the pandemic itself,” Redman stresses, “but the uniquely isolating conditions of that time certainly played a role in the music’s creation. The geographic flavor was probably born in part out of my own lockdown-induced wanderlust… And from a practical standpoint, Gabrielle and I basically had to plan everything virtually. (Never in my life have I talked so much art through text!) By the time I visited New Orleans to scout recording studios and finally meet her in person, we had already selected the band and picked almost all of the tunes.”
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