One of the loudest “aha!” moments in jazz this century was when saxophonist Joshua Redman first stepped onstage with the eclectic jazz trio The Bad Plus. That was in 2011 at the Blue Note in New York City.
The magic of their instant rapport grew stronger, leading to more gigs together, more momentum. Then their first album was released in May, “The Bad Plus Joshua Redman.” Now they are performing Friday at the downtown Fox Tucson Theatre.
“We knew playing together would be fun, but none of us expected there would be so much chemistry,” said Redman on a Skype call from Guimarães, Portugal, where he is on tour with another group, James Farm.
At a complex time culturally when jazz is looking for a defining voice, the brilliant improvisations of The Bad Plus Joshua Redman offer some meaty suggestions for promising explorations.
Redman once told the Minneapolis Star Tribune, “Playing with The Bad Plus has allowed me to explore a part of my playing, and my musical heritage, that I’ve never before accessed in quite the same way with any other group. This adventure with The Bad Plus pushes me toward the fringes and draws me into the core.”
It is that inside-outside fringe-core feeling that will fill this concert at the Fox. Redman wanted to make it clear their program will be a showcase for the whole group. They won’t be dividing up the playlist into his songs and their songs.
“From the beginning, my approach has been that I don’t want to sound like a guest with them,” he added. “I wanted to be a part of that sound they have.”
The Bad Plus sound is generated by pianist Ethan Iverson, bassist Reid Anderson and drummer David King. They’ve all been friends since junior high school in Minneapolis. Their website says the band formed at the beginning of this century and describe The Bad Plus’ newest solo release, “Inevitable Western,” as “an album where pop, blues, and folk meld with classic melodies and rhythmic innovation into that rarest of hybrids: intelligent music for the masses.”
Redman comes from a world equally eclectic. His father “and my greatest inspiration” is Dewey Redman, whose fat-toned tenor sax innovations in free jazz during the 1970s with the likes of Ornette Coleman made a substantial contribution to the genre.
Joshua’s career includes many noteworthy collaborations since the 1990s, particularly with Pat Metheny, Brad Mehldau, as artistic director of San Francisco’s SFJAZZ Collective, in the group James Farm and recording with his own piano-less trios. Redman is also artistic director of Wigmore Hall’s Jazz Series in London.
