Dewey Redman: Reaching for a Sound 

Dewey Redman performs in SF on Sunday, April 30.

Dewey Redman “75th Birthday Celebration”
Sunday, April 30 • 7PM
Herbst Theatre

In today’s ever-more-diverse musical landscape, it’s not too uncommon to find jazz artists who can shift from style to style as they move from project to project. But few are the artists who can embrace all that stylistic diversity while retaining a sound that’s utterly, indelibly their own. Tenor sax master, Dewey Redman, who performs this Sunday at Herbst Theatre, is definitely one of the few.

	Launch iTunes
	Amazon.com

As All About Jazz put it: “Whether it’s stomping out blues or bop, playing free with Ornette Coleman and Don Cherry, spicing up the work of Pat Metheny or Keith Jarrett, or performing in larger groups like Charlie Haden’s Liberation Orchestra, this Texas tenor is always up to the task. He adds his sound, which can both warm and excite any setting. He has something to say.”

As Redman told AAJ writer R.J. DeLuke, his quest for his own sound stems from the example of the great tenor-men who preceded him: “I can’t be critical of other musicians or other saxophonists. But back then, you could listen to Coleman Hawkins and tell that it was Coleman Hawkins, and Lester Young and it was Lester Young. The same with John Coltrane and Sonny Rollins. You could tell the difference…. In my world, that’s the first thing I reach for is the sound. Technique is okay, but if you got the technique and I got a good sound, I’ll beat you every time. You can play a thousand notes and I can play one note and wipe you out. That’s what I reach for is a sound.”

The result of Redman’s lifelong pursuit of transcendent sound, in The New York Times’ words, is “poetry, some of the most cliché-free saxophone playing you’ll hear today.” On the cusp of 75, he remains “a consummate artist in his prime, whose message is clear, masterful, and dynamic” (Europe Jazz Network).

Read More:
	All About Jazz feature: “Dewey Redman: The Sound of a Giant”
	Europe Jazz Network biography
	The Jazzine interview

Dewey Redman Quartet Sunday, April 30 • 7pm Herbst Theatre