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 INTERVIEW Not the Same Old, Same Old Joshua Redman reinvigorated jazz with original songs that put traditional sounds first. Ironically, it took an album of cover tunes to break the sax Wunderkind out of a musical rut. BY BILL SMITH 243-2122 |
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Joshua Redman Aladdin Theater, 3017 SE Milwaukie Ave., 233-1994 8 pm Wednesday, March 24 $18.50 advance Jazz saxophonist Joshua Redman believes there are two different types of songs. The first type enchants, excites and entertains us at a particular time in our life, but then we move away from it. Years later, if we hear that song again, it's with different ears and maturity; if we still enjoy the song, it's from a nostalgic distance. The second type has the powerful flexibility to stay with us and change as we change. It's this type of song that Redman is most attracted to. "For me, there has to be a universal quality that's connected to the song, a quality of openness, I guess," Redman told WW from his Tarrytown, N.Y., home. "The most timeless songs are the most open." This refreshing perspective comes from the man who, at age 29, kicked down the critical and commercial doors of the traditional jazz world and exposed a new audience to jazz. Redman has a high level of confidence, and his history adds to his fire. The son of Ornette Coleman/Keith Jarrett saxophonist Dewey Redman, he made his public debut in 1992 when he won the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Competition. In the past five years, Redman has become one of the top draws in jazz by writing original tunes that give more than a nod to the heavily riff- and groove-laden jazz of the '60s. But with his previous disc, Freedom in the Groove, he began to sound trapped by the style he was trying to emulate. It's taken other people's songs to keep him fresh. His latest release, Timeless Tales (for Changing Times) (WEA), mixes Tin Pan Alley standards with rock and R&B stand-outs to create a unified whole. It is arguably his finest disc since his 1993 debut, and much of that can be attributed to the outstanding diversity of his choices, from Prince's B-side "How Come U Don't Call Me Anymore?" to Gershwin's "Summertime." In the traditional jazz world, doing covers of rock 'n' roll is generally taboo, but Redman wanted to pick material he could make his own. He says he has a personal connection to all the songs on the record. "They give me an emotional pull and take me to a place," he says. His selections are not only from some of the finest songwriters of the last 30 years but also from the finest lyricists. It brings to mind what Dexter Gordon once said: Great jazz improvisers need to know the words to a song before they can play it well. "Good lyrics are important because they impact the way you play the song," Redman says. In reference to the disparate artists he covers on Timeless Tales (Joni Mitchell, Stevie Wonder, Prince, Lennon/McCartney and Bob Dylan), we asked Redman, à la Sesame Street, "Which one of these things is not like the other?" Redman's answer? Dylan. "With him it wasn't so much what the lyrics say but the lyrical rhythm, the way he phrases things." Redman's interpretation of "The Times They Are A-Changin'" is one of the disc's strongest moments; it's buoyant and pensive at the same time. Besides covering a who's who of composers on his latest record, these days Redman pretty much plays live with anyone he wants. In the past year this list has included the Stones, Dave Matthews, Jewel and the Roots. The night before our interview he sat in with John Medeski, Vernon Reid, DJ Logic and others at the Knitting Factory. "Good music is good music," he says, "and most musical situations I can get a lot out of. For me, music is all about communication--what you have to say, but also what you can say to/with the audience and the band." Music is also about stretching boundaries and taking chances--such as recording a selection of cover tunes. "It's one thing to take chances, but they have to make some sense, not just because you haven't done it yet," he says. "You gotta try to keep putting yourself in situations that you may be somewhat uncomfortable with but that still feel natural."
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