MoodSwing cover
Released

Saxophonist Joshua Redman’s third album, released in 1994, featured a band of up-and-coming peers: Brad Mehldau on piano, Christian McBride on bass, and Brian Blade on drums. His first two releases had mixed originals with jazz standards and pop tunes, but he wrote everything here, and although it suffers a little from CD bloat (11 tracks in 70 minutes), the album has a consistency that matches its title. It’s cool, even somewhat reticent; Redman’s compositions are frequently simple blues riffs or short, hooky melodies (“Alone in the Morning,” a gentle samba, is an exception), and he plays them in an introspective manner reminiscent of late-period Joe Henderson. Mehldau, McBride, and Blade are a terrific rhythm section, coloring inside the lines but still conveying plenty of excitement and youthful enthusiasm, the drummer in particular. The pianist was often accused, early in his career, of being a Bill Evans acolyte, so it’s interesting to hear him drop in some Keith Jarrett moves on this record.

Phil Freeman

Recommended by

Suggestions
Metamorphosen cover

Metamorphosen

Branford Marsalis
Now Then cover

Now Then

Tani Tabbal Trio
Celebration cover

Celebration

Scottish National Jazz Orchestra, Arild Andersen, Tommy Smith
Homeward Bound cover

Homeward Bound

Johnathan Blake
Love Tape cover

Love Tape

Marquis Hill
Koma Saxo cover

Koma Saxo

Petter Eldh, Koma Saxo
Contours cover

Contours

Sam Rivers