Joshua Redman’s Sizzling Jazz Quartet Speaks Volumes Where “Words Fall Short”

Interview by Niki Kaos.

“Words Fall Short” is the newest album from tenor sax cat Joshua Redman. At times upbeat and wildly intricate, and other times atmospheric and moody, it’s a must-listen for jazz fans. And lucky for some of us, Joshua has the quartet on tour, playing mostly songs from the album, and adding some fresh tunes each night. Pianist Paul Cornish, bassist Philip Norris, and drummer Nazir Ebo bring their impeccable chops and are ready to PLAY! 

I got the chance to catch a few minutes with Joshua Redman to learn more about how this latest tour came about and how he landed so deeply into the jazz scene.

RRX: I think the quartet you’ve put together is relatively new. What brought you all together?

JR: Well, I put the band together originally to tour behind the previous record, which I did with the vocalist Gabriel Cabasa, called “Where Are We.” We recorded that album with Brian Blade, Joe Sanders, and Aaron Parks, so an all-star band of sorts, and we were able to tour with them for a few weeks when the record came out. But I knew that we had a long year and a half plus tour planned, and I knew that those guys weren’t gonna be able to make it. So I put this band together of, as it turns out, much younger musicians. You know, all of them are not quite, but roughly half my age. They’re all, they’re all under 30. And believe it or not, I’m in my mid-50s. 

So, I put that band together initially just to tour. But the more we played, the more I realized what a special constellation of musical minds and spirits this was. And I felt that, like, this was a band that I would love to keep working with beyond the current touring cycle. I started to bring new music in for them, and original music, and made a decision relatively quickly in the fall of last year – around September – to record with them. We recorded a couple of months later, and the record came out, and now we’re playing that music. I keep throwing new music at them. They’re incredible musicians. They make all my sad tunes sound amazing. So, I know whatever I throw at them, they make beautiful music out of it.

RRX: One of the things I love about jazz in general, when you see a trio or a quartet that’s got this relationship they’ve built together, there’s what’s written, there’s what you’ve practiced, and there’s this improvising and breathing of the music that really happens in jazz that you don’t see in a lot of other styles of music. And something I admire about your discography. I’ve been a fan since “Freedom in the Groove.” 

You’ve grown up in a family with music. Obviously, your father was a saxophonist as well. And then you almost became a lawyer; you received a degree and were accepted to law school. What caused you to dip your toe into the academic world and then say, “Never mind, I’m going back to jazz”?

JR: Just to clarify a couple things. The kind of common misconception is that I actually grew up with my father. I did not. I was raised by my mom. She’s a single mom. My father and mother were never married, so I grew up with his music because, you know, she had all his records, but I didn’t grow up with him. She was a music lover and a dancer, and just a lover of all different kinds of art, so it was really she who exposed me to everything. 

RRX: That is interesting to learn, because you played music with your father, so you had a relationship. But he was not your primary caregiver and source of getting into whatever you did as a child, I guess, then, right? It was your mom.

JR: Yeah, I mean, I played with my father after I graduated from college as an adult, or, you know, “technically” an adult. (laughs) So yeah, I mean, I got to know him much better, obviously, once I started playing in his band, but he didn’t raise me. 

But, yeah, I’ve always loved music, but I never thought that I was gonna be a musician. I didn’t think I was good enough, and I also didn’t have the discipline and the focus when it came to music. I mean, I had a lot of discipline and focus when it came to academics, but music for me was kind of just a way to blow some steam, to play and have fun. And I never really applied myself with it. So when I went to college, I thought I wanted to be a doctor, but then, because my major was kind of theoretical sociology, that led me to think about going to law school. I applied to law school and was accepted, but I actually never went to law school. 

I moved to New York. I took a year deferment from Yale Law School, and I thought I was gonna go, and then I moved to New York, and then things got a little crazy because I started to play with a bunch of musicians. And you know, just within six months of living there, I realized I had an opportunity to play some of the greatest music with the greatest musicians in the world, and I decided I wanted to check that out for a little while. And that’s been my life.

RRX: I can’t blame you. You’re in the middle of it in NYC. It would be no contest for me. Also, earlier in your career, maybe because of your mom’s influence with the world music and the dancing that she did, you connected with Pat Metheny and did an album called “Wish.” What was that like?

JR: I think the connection with Pat Metheny probably had more to do, actually, with my father because he played with Pat Metheny and Pat played a lot with Charlie Hayden, and I had been working with Charlie Hayden in a few different contexts. So that was the connection, and the opportunity presented itself to me when I signed the record deal, and they asked what I wanted to do for my first record. I was like, well, I’d like to record some songs with a young band and then also record some songs with a band of masters, you know, great, great, great older musicians. And I decided on, I mean, I always loved this Pat Metheny record, “Rejoicing,” with Pat and Charlie Haden and Billy Higgins. It’s one of my favorite Pat records. And so, I said I’d love to play with them, and they all said yes. And then Pat took me on the road with his band for a while, and then he played, I mean, it was always his thing, but he technically played in, you know, my project when the record came out. So, um, yeah, he was incredibly kind and generous to take me under his wing. I’ve learned so much from him musically. 

RRX: That’s so amazing! 

I’m excited to see you on your current tour for “Words Fall Short.” While you’re doing the tour now for “Words Fall Short,” do you have something next on the horizon that you’re just starting to brew up for your next album?

JR: I’ve been writing a lot of music for this band and also have some songs that I’ve written over the years that have never found their proper home, so I’m kind of throwing a lot of things at them. And like I said, everything I throw at them, they just have this way of being able to … first of all, technically there’s nothing that they can’t play, but also just kind of getting to the heart, the essence of whatever a song is, and really knowing how to tell a story with it. So I’m hoping to record with them very soon.

RRX: So on this tour, we’re on the ground floor introduction when we get to Universal Preservation Hall, as far as you’re just starting to evolve your collaborations with this group. That’s exciting.

JR: Well, we’ve been playing together for two years, but, yeah, it’s a relatively new group, and I feel like we’ve just scratched the surface of what we can be.

RRX: Yes, two years may seem like a long time in some cases, but when you see people who’ve played together for five or ten years, even, the way they instinctively know each other’s playing styles … for the audience, I can say it can be emotional in a beautiful way. What are your sets like for the Words Fall Short Tour? Is it mostly songs from the album? Or are there gonna be some songs from your past catalogue? 

JR: We seem to be playing mostly original music, and it will definitely be some songs from the new album. Probably some new material. There are certainly songs that I’ve written, you know, uh, there are a lot of songs I’ve written over the years that I would just as well forget. But there are some that I remember, and that still seem to have some meaning and some resonance. So sometimes we play some of those. I really don’t know what we’re gonna play, you know, until we walk out there, to be honest.

RRX: Wow! Is that how it works?

JR: It’s how it works.

RRX: That’s kind of exciting. So if someone were to go to see your shows three nights in a row, they get a different set? 

JR: There are certain songs that we tend to play a lot. So I think on this tour, a lot of times we start with the same three songs. We call it the starting three, so you know 9 times out of 10 it’ll be those three songs first. But then after that, it’s kind of anything goes.

RRX: I love that! Thank you so much for chatting with me, and I can’t wait to see you play at Universal Preservation Hall this Thursday, December 4th!