Still Dreaming (Nonesuch)
Joshua Redman, Ron Miles, Scott Colley & Brian Blade
Released May 25, 2018
Grammy Nominee for Best Jazz Instrumental Album 2019
Jazzwise Top 10 Releases of 2018
JazzTimes Top 10 Albums of 2018
YouTube:
https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_nBhvmZHY821vrhNb8zp9txc2eaZurQu7o
Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/album/7fvNUuHA96nH77MKlVo9Uc?si=2iQTQoJmQNSY8nJwqRiBrg
About:
Saxophonist and composer Joshua Redman is joined by drummer Brian Blade, bassist Scott Colley, and cornetist Ron Miles for Still Dreaming— an album inspired by his father Dewey Redman’s 1976–1987 band, Old and New Dreams — released on Nonesuch Records on May 25, 2018. Along with the senior Redman, Old and New Dreams featured an all-star lineup of Ornette Coleman collaborators—cornetist Don Cherry, bassist Charlie Haden, and drummer Ed Blackwell—who continued pushing musical boundaries as they had with Coleman even after their former bandleader moved in a new direction. Still Dreaming features six new compositions by the new band as well as one tune by Haden and one from Coleman.
The Still Dreaming ensemble performed a series of critically praised international dates last year. The Columbus Dispatch said, “Whether exploring the limits of improvisation or establishing an emotional tone, the group … relied on a dialogue based on listening, respect, and generosity … Its emotional travel was the result of the intuition shared by all four musicians. That dialogue, after all, was at the center of Coleman’s innovations.”
As Redman told NPR’s Jazz Night in America: “I envisioned this band with myself and Ron Miles and Scott Colley and Brian Blade … Each of us has a kind of special relationship to the corresponding instrumentalist in Old and New Dreams.” Blade, like Blackwell, is from Louisiana; Colley was a student of Haden’s; and Miles has long been influenced by Cherry’s playing.
Redman told the Boston Globe that Old and New Dreams “were able to play very free, and at times abstract, thorny music. But at the same time there was a folk quality—whether a connection to the blues, or with African music, or with very powerful, simple melodies. Their music had a vulnerability and a poignant lyricism. That balance was something very special.” He continued, “It’s not our mission to go back and rediscover some Golden Age. I’m hoping this is a band that has a lot of future ahead.” Joshua Redman’s first album on Nonesuch was the Grammy-nominated Momentum (2005). His other releases on the label include Back East, Compass, and Trios Live, all of which explore the trio format; MoodSwing (1994, re-issued); Walking Shadows (2013), his first recording to include an orchestral ensemble; The Bad Plus Joshua Redman (2015), a collaboration with the acclaimed trio; and Nearness (2016), a duo album with longtime friend and collaborator Brad Mehldau. Redman currently tours with his trio with bassist Reuben Rogers and drummer Greg Hutchinson; his quartet with pianist Aaron Goldberg, Rogers, and Hutchinson; and occasionally with a collaborative group called James Farm, with pianist Aaron Parks, bassist Matt Penman, and drummer Eric Harland. James Farm has two releases on Nonesuch: their self-titled album from 2011, and City Folk, released in 2014.
Track Listing:
1. New Year (Scott Colley) 6:37
2. Unanimity (Joshua Redman) 5:09
3. Haze and Aspirations (Scott Colley) 5:57
4. It’s Not the Same (Joshua Redman) 2:46
5. Blues for Charlie (Joshua Redman) 6:50
6. Playing (Charlie Haden) 3:17
7. Comme Il Faut (Ornette Coleman) 3:27
8. The Rest (Joshua Redman) 5:56
Personnel:
Joshua Redman: tenor saxophone
Ron Miles: cornet
Scott Colley: bass
Brian Blade: drums
Recorded April 2 & 3, 2017, at Sear Sound, New York, NY
Produced by Joshua Redman
Associate Producer & Engineer: James Farber
Assistant Engineer: Owen Mulholland
Mastered by Greg Calbi
Design by John Gall
Photograph by Hans Jörgen Johansen
Band Photograph by Jon Brown
Executive Producer: Robert Hurwitz
Review:
To my great chagrin I missed the band’s much-lauded performance at Gateshead last year, but this is one of Joshua Redman’s most interesting projects thus far in his career. He was actually in his father Dewey’s group for a while when he was younger and his affinity to the music of Old and New Dreams, the beloved band Redman senior co-led with Don Cherry, Charlie Haden and Ed Blackwell, is clear throughout this tribute (and extension thereof). Perhaps the most difficult thing to capture in any interpretation of somebody else’s music is the spirit, and in this case that translates as a melodic zest, a rhythmic bounce and singing character in warm, visceral themes that then fan out into more complex, extremely conversational narratives. Of the six originals on offer ‘Unanimity’ is a fine example of agitated, nervy yet controlled playing that retains an ageless funkiness and populist immediacy amid its contemporary sophistry. Indeed, the whole album is the ‘old bottle, new wine’ theory put into good practice.
Kevin Le Gendre (Jazzwise)
