Not a Redman disc that i get to play that often, i think he's quite a genius, and yet his albums are uneven, they seem to fall into two separate camps, discs that i think are fantastic, and discs that are merely good, with the quality of my disc collection, i've eliminated the mere good, but this album is almost an inbetween of the two, i would never call it a great album, and yet there's no way i would want to purge it from library, this disc came after the excellent albums 'Freedom In The Groove' [1996], and 'Timeless Tales For Changing Times' [1998], on those two albums he was really having fun, a nice blast, here he's somewhat more serious, the musical ideas are still in abundance, but he seems to be reaching out to the fringes more, taking one rung of the ladder more toward atonality let's say, plus some of the track titles are very inventive / poetic, it's not an immediately likable album, and maybe i need to do some more serious listening to truly get it, but it's so worth listening to.
Joshua Redman is American, he's now 44, and so well established in Jazz circles, this is his sixth studio album, and it came out in 2000, the strange photography for this issue [by Frank W Ockenfels 3], shows Redman shot with i guess a serious wide angled lens, making his legs / feet look bigger than they are, in a strange room [probably a converted garage], which has the visual feel of a sort of pit [no windows], the front cover is really sparse, and it certainly goes with the feel of the music, i didn't think it's great, but somehow i can't dismiss it as average either.
Tracks 1-2, 4, 7 & 9-10 were the best, with the standout track being 7 'Stoic Revolutions', which has a phenomenal driving rhythm / beat to it, very much in the spirit of his two previous albums, there's no 'crazy' inventive intro, it's straight for the throat this one, lovely couple of beats of the drum from Gregory Hutchinson and we're away, the rhythm is made of a constant clicking of the cymbals, and a very repetitive and mellow chord hits from Pianist Aaron Goldberg, and it's the Drummer which makes the whole thing work, Redman comes in with the very lyrical tune, a degree of funkiness to the whole thing, he plays the 'theme' [0:10-1:09], and then goes off on a more complex solo [1:16-3:07], the way the rhythm section keeps going on in the same vein is terrific, but they do respond to his ever increasing complexity, there's great joy and vibrancy in his playing, the Pianist Goldberg who has been in the 'rhythm background' for so long, now finally branches out in a solo, [3:07-4:54] and also branches out volume wise as well, it's a relatively short tune [6:11], and therefore only time enough for Redman and Goldberg to cut solos, so Redman comes back in with the original opening theme [4:54+], and extends this with getting quite rapturous with the repetitive theme, and hits the treble stratosphere at the end, a highly infectious track.
Here's Joshua Redman playing 'Stoic Revolutions' on his MySpace page.
Joshua Redman is American, he's now 44, and so well established in Jazz circles, this is his sixth studio album, and it came out in 2000, the strange photography for this issue [by Frank W Ockenfels 3], shows Redman shot with i guess a serious wide angled lens, making his legs / feet look bigger than they are, in a strange room [probably a converted garage], which has the visual feel of a sort of pit [no windows], the front cover is really sparse, and it certainly goes with the feel of the music, i didn't think it's great, but somehow i can't dismiss it as average either.
Tracks 1-2, 4, 7 & 9-10 were the best, with the standout track being 7 'Stoic Revolutions', which has a phenomenal driving rhythm / beat to it, very much in the spirit of his two previous albums, there's no 'crazy' inventive intro, it's straight for the throat this one, lovely couple of beats of the drum from Gregory Hutchinson and we're away, the rhythm is made of a constant clicking of the cymbals, and a very repetitive and mellow chord hits from Pianist Aaron Goldberg, and it's the Drummer which makes the whole thing work, Redman comes in with the very lyrical tune, a degree of funkiness to the whole thing, he plays the 'theme' [0:10-1:09], and then goes off on a more complex solo [1:16-3:07], the way the rhythm section keeps going on in the same vein is terrific, but they do respond to his ever increasing complexity, there's great joy and vibrancy in his playing, the Pianist Goldberg who has been in the 'rhythm background' for so long, now finally branches out in a solo, [3:07-4:54] and also branches out volume wise as well, it's a relatively short tune [6:11], and therefore only time enough for Redman and Goldberg to cut solos, so Redman comes back in with the original opening theme [4:54+], and extends this with getting quite rapturous with the repetitive theme, and hits the treble stratosphere at the end, a highly infectious track.
Here's Joshua Redman playing 'Stoic Revolutions' on his MySpace page.
