Scott Vander Werf: Saxophonist Joshua Redmond's album, Where Are We came out just over a year ago, his first for the storied Blue Note label. It's also his first project that features a vocalist with singer Gabriel Cavasa.
The album presents classic American songs like, Do You Know What It Means, De Miss New Orleans, Manhattan, and Bruce Springsteen's Streets of Philadelphia, and it also mashes up songs from different eras that have connections of place like Count Basie's going to Chicago with indie rock artist, Siffian Stevens, Chicago, and John Coltrane's Alabama with the standard Stars fell on Alabama. Here's his version of the Jimmy Webb classic, By the Time I Get to Phoenix:
[By the Time I Get to Phoenix]
I talked to Joshua Redmond by telephone about the album and its appearance in Grand Rapids at St. Cecilia Music Center on Friday, October 4th at 7.30 p.m. First I asked him how he was inspired in his song, connection and concept on Where Are We?
Joshua Redman: Somewhat strangely, it came about somewhat strangely, but I'd like to say it came about fairly organically. I mean, obviously there are a lot of, you know, I guess you could say it's a fairly conceptual record. I mean, you know it's conceptual on its face in the sense that, yeah, I mean, you know, the most obvious concept is that every song on the record, pretty much every song on the record kind of refers to a place in the United States. And then, you know, as you noted, there's, um, you know, different sorts of, you know, our attempt to kind of, um, represent musically different aspects of the American experience and the human experience filtered through the lens of place in America. And yeah, I mean, there's also, as you allude to, the kind of mashups of different, in some cases, very, very different songs about the same place or the same city.
But really, it all started with just this idea that I was going to make a record with a vocalist and with Gabriel Cavasa in particular, with that vocalist. And we, you know, it was kind of a, strange or at least a very atypical and unfamiliar way for me to start working with someone because we started working together and planning the record. Still, you know, we were still kind of in the pandemic. It was the tail end, but it was still in the pandemic. So much of what we, you know, almost all of our planning happened virtually in the sense that we never even met in person until a few weeks before we were going to record because I went down to New Orleans to kind of look at some studios there and she lives in New Orleans. We ended up recording in New Orleans.
So, you know, as we were kind of, you know, planning to make music together and thinking about repertoire, you know, initially this idea of place, of songs about places in the United States, it was kind of, it was almost like a doorstop concept. It was just like a way, in a way not to open the door, but to close the door a little bit because there were so many, when we started talking about repertoire, it was just so vast. You know, so many different sorts of songs we could do, you know, and I felt like it would just be helpful to have some sort of conceptual framework to kind of narrow down the options a little bit. And honestly, I kind of thought that the concept was going to disappear at some point. You know, I didn't think it was going to stick, but it did end up sticking, and I guess it got a little sticky in places, but, you know, things just kind of happened, you know? I mean, the idea of mixing songs together, that wasn't something that I planned, but I had this idea come to me with, I left my heart in San Francisco in Thelonious Monk's San Francisco Holiday. And then that kind of worked in a bizarre way. So then I kind of ran with it with some other songs as well. So yeah, never really made or developed an album like this before. It's been fun. The journey
SVW: Well, this album has been my introduction to Gabrielle Cavasa and now she's on a few other records that we have here at the station. What was your introduction to her music?
JR: I mean, to be honest, and this is also the most strange thing about it, I mean, I had heard her name before and maybe I had heard her music kind of unconsciously a little bit, but I mean, she was in San Francisco for a period of time. I’ve been based back here in the Bay Area since 2002, but really, you know, of all things, my manager was at a social function, a party in New Orleans, and she, I guess Gabrielle was singing, and my manager, Emory Wilkins, she texted me out of the blue and was like, I'm sitting here and this is absolutely riveting vocalist and you should check her out.
And normally, I mean, You know, Emory, you know, she kind of, you know, she's an amazing, brilliant businesswoman and I'm a horrible businessman, but I'm a saxophonist. So I play saxophone and she handles the business and usually never the twain shall, shall meet. But, you know, I've, in this case, I had a lot of time on my hands and I was like, yeah, I'll check her out, and there was something about Gabrielle's voice and her expression and just the kind of space that she created for herself and also within the music and the way that I guess the vulnerability and the intimacy that she kind of conjures up when she sings. That was really intriguing to me and appealing to me. And so, you know, I had never done a record with the vocalist before and I had a lot of time on my hands to kind of think about things and plan things. So you know, we embarked down that path.
SVW: Well, could you tell us about the other members of the touring group that are coming to Grand Rapids?
JR: Sure, yes. So Gabrielle and I made Where Are We with, I guess you could say it's an all-star band. I mean, certainly some of the greatest and most in-demand musicians in jazz, the drummer's Brian Blade, with whom I've had a long, probably the longest history of making music, just about professionally, just about, and personally, despite anyone on the planet. And bassist is Joe Sanders, pianist is Aaron Parks, and then we had a lot of special guests, Nicholas Peyton, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Peter Bernstein, Joel Ross. And when we started, when the record was released, we toured for about three weeks with Aaron Parks and Joe Sanders and Brian Blade, but we knew that we were only gonna have them for a brief period.
And then after that, we put together a band of incredible younger musicians. The pianist is Paul Cornish and the bassist is Philip Norris and the drummer is Nazir Ibo. So we have been touring with that band, I guess since the end of October of 2023. So that's, yeah, we've really, I feel it's an incredible group. You know, they're really mature musicians, deeply knowledgeable musicians, but you know, they have that incredible youthful spirit and fire and energy and a certain kind of, I don't wanna say naivete, but a certain innocence that you have in your youth musically. It's really inspiring for me as the old man to be around that again.
SVW: Joshua Redmond. He's bringing his group to Grand Rapids to perform at St. Cecilia's Music Center on Friday, October 4th at 7.30 PM.
[De Miss New Orleans]
For WGVU, I'm Scott Vanderwerf.