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Joshua Redman
From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist
Joshua Redman is an American jazz saxophonist and composer, born in 1969 in Berkeley, California. His father is the jazz saxophonist Dewey Redman; his mother was a dancer and librarian. At the Center for World Music in Berkeley he came into contact with many kinds of music at an early age. He began on clarinet at the age of nine and a year later switched to tenor saxophone, which became his main instrument. He calls himself self-taught and named John Coltrane, Ornette Coleman, Cannonball Adderley and his father as influences, but also The Beatles, Aretha Franklin, Prince and Led Zeppelin.
Music and breakthrough
In 1991 he graduated with distinction in social sciences from Harvard, and he had already been admitted to Yale Law School. He postponed that and moved into a house in Brooklyn, where he landed straight away in the New York jazz scene. He played with Brad Mehldau, Roy Hargrove, Christian McBride, Pat Metheny and Charlie Haden, among others. In 1991 he won the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Saxophone Competition. His first album, Joshua Redman, was released in 1993 on Warner Bros. and received a Grammy nomination.
Influence
His playing has a warm, supple tone and a great feeling for melody and swing. He brings together the tradition of Coltrane and his father with influences from pop and soul, and in the 1990s became the face of a new generation of jazz musicians. In doing so he showed that young listeners could find something worthwhile in jazz too.
Listening
Turnaround · Joshua Redman, 1993- Soul Dance · Joshua Redman, 1993
- Tears in Heaven · Joshua Redman, 1993
Jig-a-Jug (live) · Joshua Redman, 1995
Discography
Studio albums
- 1993Joshua Redman
- 1993Wish
- 1994African Venus
- 1996Freedom in the Groove
- 1998Timeless Tales (For Changing Times)
- 2000Beyond
- 2002Elastic
- 2007Back East
- 2009Compass
- 2010Triads and More
- 2013Walking Shadows
- 2015Joshua Redman
- 2018Still Dreaming
- 2019Sun on Sand
- 2020RoundAgain
- 2022LongGone
- 2023Where Are We
- 2025Words Fall Short
Other work
- 1994MoodSwing
In School of Rock
The chapters, maps and magazine stories of School of Rock are currently available in Dutch only.
- Jazz MapNL Map
- After Hours: Session 4NL Reader
Mentioned in other articles
- Neotraditional jazz (Young Lions) Genre
Together with his brother, the saxophonist Branford Marsalis, and musicians such as Terence Blanchard, Donald Harrison, Roy Hargrove and Joshua Redman, he was counted among the Young Lions: well-dressed young players who took the tradition seriously.
See also
- Wish
- Freedom in the Groove
- Timeless Tales (For Changing Times)
- Beyond
- Elastic
- Back East
- Walking Shadows
- Neotraditional jazz (Young Lions)