The Bad Plus Joshua Redman's self-titled, debut album is due out next week and is streaming in full till then as an NPR First Listen at npr.org. The album is "a roaring and beautiful summit meeting," says NPR's Tom Moon. "The ideas are impressive by themselves, but become more powerful as Redman and the rhythm section go about developing them ... [T]he real triumph of The Bad Plus Joshua Redman: It exhibits genuinely fresh thinking." The album, he concludes, "draws on a range of old ideas (as old as Chopin nocturnes and '60s rock) as fuel for a journey into the murky, terrifying, thrilling unknown."
The Bad Plus Joshua Redman's self-titled, debut album is due out next week on Nonesuch Records. But you don't need to wait till then to hear it: the album is streaming in full all this week as an NPR First Listen at npr.org. Seven of the album's nine tracks are new compositions by quartet members: The Bad Plus—pianist Ethan Iverson, bassist Reid Anderson, drummer David King—and saxophonist Joshua Redman.
The Bad Plus Joshua Redman is "a roaring and beautiful summit meeting," says NPR's Tom Moon, and one with roots in addition to the jazz for which they are known. "The rhythmic language here derives from rock and contemporary music, as well as the open, beautifully textural questing associated with the European avant-garde and certain strains of electronic music. The result: pulses that have an undeniable future-forward energy running through them."
As "the settings play to Redman's strengths," says Moon, "Redman shares more heart and lyricism, and this cultivates deeper group communication. He can handle all the tricky switchbacks embedded in the music — his own group, James Farm, aspires to similar meta jamming — but never allows the structures to dictate too much about his own inventions. He engages the trio with short taunts and jabbing lines, and then, over time, shapes them into longer sweeping arcs that sometimes exude a heroic spirit. The ideas are impressive by themselves, but become more powerful as Redman and the rhythm section go about developing them."
Moon goes on to define the "the real triumph of The Bad Plus Joshua Redman: It exhibits genuinely fresh thinking." He concludes that "each of these compositions thrives in provocative non-jazz settings for spontaneous exploration. ... [The album] draws on a range of old ideas (as old as Chopin nocturnes and '60s rock) as fuel for a journey into the murky, terrifying, thrilling unknown."
Read more and listen to the complete album, streaming now at npr.org.
To pre-order The Bad Plus Joshua Redman and download the track "Dirty Blonde" now, head to iTunes or the Nonesuch Store, where CD orders include a download of the complete album available starting release day.
The quartet kicks off a tour with two sets at the Blue Note Jazz Festival on June 10. For details and tickets, visit nonesuch.com/on-tour.
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