New Jazz Release: Joshua Redman | “Walking Shadows” – Coming May 7th, 2013
Nonesuch
Records releases saxophonist Joshua Redman’s Walking Shadows on May 7,
2013. The album, comprising 12 ballads, is Redman’s first recording to
include an orchestral ensemble, which plays on many of the tracks. It
was produced by Redman’s friend and frequent collaborator Brad Mehldau.
The record’s core ensemble is a quartet featuring Mehldau, Larry
Grenadier, and Brian Blade—all frequent collaborators of Redman’s over
the years. Dan Coleman conducts on the orchestral tracks. Walking
Shadows includes original tunes from both Redman and Mehldau along with
works by a wide range of composers such as John Mayer and Pino
Palladino, Kern and Hammerstein, and Lennon and McCartney. Orchestral
arrangements are by Mehldau, Coleman, and composer Patrick Zimmerli.
Walking Shadows is now available to pre-order in the Nonesuch Store with
an instant download of the Redman-penned album track “Final Hour” and a
download of the complete album available starting release day.
Redman
first worked with Mehldau and Blade in Redman’s mid-1990s quartet and
they have been friends and frequent collaborators ever since. Redman was
a featured soloist on Mehldau’s Jon Brion–produced 2010 orchestral
album, Highway Rider. Walking Shadows is the first of Redman’s records
to be produced by Mehldau. Redman says: “I couldn’t be more delighted to
have the opportunity to do a ballads record with strings, with Brad
producing, and my other great friends and collaborators all involved.
I’ve wanted to do this for a long time.”
The New York Times said
of the saxophonist, “Joshua Redman is one of the most visible jazz
musicians of the last 15 years, which says something not just about his
natural flow as an improviser and his command as a bandleader, but also
about his willingness to use words … to represent jazz to the outside
world.”
Redman’s first self-titled studio album was released by
Warner Bros. in 1993; eight additional records followed on Warner. His
Nonesuch debut, Momentum, was released in 2005, along with the first of
two SF JAZZ Collective albums on which he served as artistic director.
In 2007, Nonesuch released Back East, Redman’s first studio recording
with an acoustic trio, followed by Compass in 2009 featuring double
trio. His most recent album, 2011’s James Farm, featured a band of the
same name with pianist Aaron Parks, bassist Matt Penman, and drummer
Eric Harland.