JOSHUA REDMAN CELEBRATES SONNY ROLLINS IF EVER YOU WOULD LEAVE US (WE PLAY FOR ROLLINS) OUT NOV.20 ON BLUE NOTE RECORDS. HEARTFELT TRIBUTE TO THE SAXOPHONE COLOSSUS FEATURES FEATURES MUSICAL FRIENDS INCLUDING CHRISTIAN McBRIDE, LARRY GRENADIER, MARCUS GILMORE, PETER BERNSTEIN, KEVIN HAYS, CHRIS POTTER, CÉCILE McLORIN SALVANT & GABRIELLE CAVASSA

Saxophonist Joshua Redman celebrates Sonny Rollins with the Nov. 20 release of his 3rd Blue Note album, If Ever You Would Leave Us (we play for Rollins), a remarkable paean to the indelible impact of the Saxophone Colossus. It features 11 inspired selections from Rollins’ repertoire performed in a range of configurations by a nonpareil collective of musicians including drummer Marcus Gilmore, bassists Christian McBride and Larry Grenadier, Rollins band alums Kevin Hays on piano and Peter Bernstein on guitar, fellow tenor virtuoso Chris Potter, and two of jazz’s finest vocalists, Cécile McLorin Salvant and Gabrielle Cavassa. The album is introduced with the hard-swinging lead single “Grand Street,” a lesser-known Rollins jewel from Sonny Rollins And The Big Brass, performed by Redman, Bernstein, McBride, and Gilmore, whose grandfather Roy Haynes played drums on the original recording.

When Redman woke up on the day following Rollins’ passing on May 26, he felt a cathartic need to do something for Sonny, but he didn’t quite know what. So he started making calls to friends and colleagues, and a loose coterie of great players readily made themselves available for studio sessions in New York that were assembled within a couple weeks.

“Sonny’s passing definitely hit me hard,” Redman says. “It felt not unlike the passing of a parent. He certainly felt like a musical father, grandfather and godfather, all rolled into one, for me and I think for all of us.”

It’s difficult to assess Redman’s career and not think of him in one way or another as one of Rollins’ most devoted and accomplished disciples. He is, after all, a prodigious saxophonist who continues to prove that jazz’s “golden age” is always upon us. He exists in a small, elite class of active musicians who can uphold all of modern jazz’s ideals in a single performance: the immaculately contoured improvisations; the room-filling sound, at once mellifluous and diamond-sharp; the gracefully confident bandleading; the impeccably balanced repertoire, which combines probing originals with arrangements of standards that honor both tradition and jazz’s ethic of personalization. It’s no wonder that Redman has long considered Rollins his “number one.”

“He’s my biggest influence as an improviser and as a saxophonist,” Redman says. “He was with us forever — for the totality of my life, and a lifetime before mine. He was somebody who felt like he would never leave us.” And, of course, thanks to Rollins’ abiding influence, he never will.

To trace Redman’s journey with Rollins’ music is to trace his trajectory as a musician. “I discovered Sonny Rollins right around the time I picked up the saxophone, at age 10 or 11,” he recalls. “I remember going to the Berkeley Public Library and browsing through the bins, I saw this album, Saxophone Colossus. And I thought, ‘Hey, that’s a pretty bold title.’ [laughs] That was my eureka moment. I remember putting it on, and hearing Sonny made me understand: It awakened me to the true power and potential of jazz improvisation. When I discovered Sonny Rollins, that was my gateway, and my North Star.”

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JOSHUA REDMAN ANNOUNCES JUNE 20 RELEASE OF HIS SECOND BLUE NOTE ALBUM WORDS FALL SHORT AN INTRODUCTION OF HIS NEW QUARTET FEATURING PAUL CORNISH, PHILIP NORRIS & NAZIR EBO PLUS SPECIAL GUEST APPEARANCES BY GABRIELLE CAVASSA, MELISSA ALDANA & SKYLAR TANG

Joshua Redman has announced the June 20 release of his second Blue Note album, Words Fall Short, a collection of original compositions that serves as the introduction of his new quartet featuring pianist Paul Cornish, bassist Philip Norris, and drummer Nazir Ebo, which was formed as a working band for the world tour behind the saxophonist’s 2023 label debut where are we. As the quartet performed steadily on the road, Redman felt a vibe developing and was inspired to bring them into the studio to record a set of music he had composed during the pandemic that embraced the shifting moods of wistfulness, sadness, and resolve, including the stunning opening track “A Message To Unsend.” The album also features special guest appearances by vocalist Gabrielle Cavassa, saxophonist Melissa Aldana, and trumpeter Skylar Tang.

Redman acknowledges that the album title could be viewed ironically—his previous project was his first to feature a vocalist (Cavassa)—yet Words Fall Short is anything but a comment on the saxophonist’s last triumph. More accurately, his latest offering is an organic next step, a collection of previously unheard originals brought to life by inspiring new collaborators. “It’s impossible for me to will a project into being,” he says of the wide-ranging adventures he has embarked upon in what is now his fourth decade as a recording artist. “This album came out of a working environment that inspired me to dig into compositions that hadn’t found a home yet.”

In building a new rhythm section, Redman found himself drawn to younger players he had recently encountered. Norris and Ebo came aboard first, and Redman quickly knew he had made the right moves. “Not since Christian McBride can I recall experiencing an acoustic jazz bassist who seemingly has it all together at such a young age,” he says of Norris, “and Nazir has groove in spades, a groove that is super-flexible, in the flow of the moment, and with an innate sense of architecture that always serves the song.” By the summer of 2023, Cornish had completed the quartet’s transformation. “Paul is the perfect balance of empath and contrarian, challenging everyone to break away from established patterns, while still always making the music feel good and natural in the moment.”

Cornish, Norris, and Ebo impress on each of the album’s eight tracks. While they have moments to emerge and take the spotlight, they also provide a distinctive ensemble personality, one in which spontaneity and sensitivity keep the music fluid yet coherent. They are a rhythm section with character, one in sync with the priorities of their leader. “My approach to bandleading is unchanged,” Redman says. “Play with the best musicians I can find, virtuosos who have mastered all the different jazz vocabularies, but who are also great listeners and collaborators — who know how to express their individual brilliance through group improvisation and collective interaction.”

Redman will be celebrating the album release with shows at the Blue Note Jazz Club in New York City from June 20-22, with additional tour dates across the U.S. and Europe this summer. Visit joshuaredman.com for more information.