Dewey Redman

[JSngry]

Was he using regular D or sidekey D?

If I was to wager, it'd be sidekey.

[Spontooneous]

Got me there. I have no knowledge of these things. And the guy who told the story is out of town.

[Late]

Interesting story, Spontooneous. (I would have wagered middle D!)

Steve Lacy did the same thing, though between middle B and C (which interchanges the second and third fingers on the left hand), slowly going back and forth between them. In fact, he described the process in a Downbeat article a few years back. He did this at home for hours, virtually to the point of hallucination, until it felt like the pitches B and C, instead of being a simple half-step apart, were "worlds" apart, and he was traversing between them through the horn. Apparently, after this exercise/meditation, Lacy never viewed the horn, with all its chromatic possibilities, in the same way.

What I wonder about Redman — how does he switch from "normal" sound production to that vocalizing affect he produces? My guess would be that he takes in more of the mouthpiece than usual, and then "sings" without making the reed vibrate. Regardless of how he does it, it's damn cool.

[Late]

Here's just a part of that Downbeat article, about practicing, that struck me the most:

“These things are possible if you really want them, but you’ve got to pay dearly and you’ve got to sound terrible, so pathetic and hopeless and hapless for a long time until it turns the corner and starts to sound better. To go through those pains, not everybody wants to do that. But the difficulty of playing a thing like that gives it expressive power automatically. It has tension because it’s not easily won. It is per se dramatic because ... maybe you won’t be able to do it.”

Steve Lacy

[Guy Berger]

Don't know if the CD contains bout full albums, but the Galaxy material is good, if not always great. Definitely worth having if you're a fan, just not the best place to start if you're not.

You do get to hear Dewey cover Gilbert O'Sullivan, however.

I have Musics on CD. As Jim said, it's nice but not great. I don't like the way the rhythm section is recorded. Also, the track where Dewey plays the autoharp or whatever the heck that is just doesn't do anything for me. And he has better musette features elsewhere.

I don't think Dewey's other Galaxy album has been reissued on CD.

I was listening to the Dewey/Blackwell duets CD again today, and it's just good as the last time I heard it. Dewey's really inspired and unrestrained on this one -- more than on most of the Old and New Dreams stuff I've heard.

Guy

[clifford_thornton]

Yeah, I had Musics and did not keep it. Yawn...

[AndrewHill]

I dig Dewey. I have Ear of the Behearer, Jarrett's Treasure Island, Mysteries (great disk) and Coleman's NY is Now, Love Call and Science Fiction. I like Ear a great deal and I like the dimension that he added to Ornette's music. A friend of mine always liked how he "talks" through his horn. Great voice, great sound.

[clifford_thornton]

Welcome, HG.

[AndrewHill]

Thanks Clifford, glad to be here.

[Kalo]

Here's one I've been waiting to tell:

A tenor-playing friend says he overheard Dewey warming up on his tenor in Chicago. Instead of warming up with scales or patterns or runs, all Dewey did was about 10 minutes of going VERY slowly up a half-step (I think my friend said C-sharp to D), exploring the notes between the notes, exploring his ability to control fractional differences in pitch, and changing the tone color now and then.

He was just getting his tone built up, getting his command of the nuances in order -- and apparently trusting that everything else would fall into place after that.

When I interviewed Matt Wilson earlier this year, he said that one of the things he'll miss most about Dewey was hearing him warm up before a gig.

[7/4]

Heppy Birthday Dewey Redman, 5/17/1931!

There's bit at Do The Math about him today.

[six string]

Wow! That's two jazz musicians I share a birthday with. The other is Jackie McLean.

I saw Dewey at The Grace Cathedral in San Francisco a few years ago. He was great.

[montg]

A Dewey Redman record I especially enjoy is "The Struggle Continues," on ECM, now no doubt out of print. It's a quartet with Charles Eubanks (piano), Mark Helias (bass), and Ed Blackwell on drums, from the early 80's. It takes "Joie de Vivre," which was on "Ear of the Behearer," and gives it a much more swinging, mainstream treatment. Beautiful album.

I purchased this recently from bmg, it is wonderful! I find it intersting that some musicians are able to convey warmth and authenticity while others just sound cold. This album, to me at least, is very moving. Particularly 'Love is'

[kh1958]

A Dewey Redman record I especially enjoy is "The Struggle Continues," on ECM, now no doubt out of print. It's a quartet with Charles Eubanks (piano), Mark Helias (bass), and Ed Blackwell on drums, from the early 80's. It takes "Joie de Vivre," which was on "Ear of the Behearer," and gives it a much more swinging, mainstream treatment. Beautiful album.

I purchased this recently from bmg, it is wonderful! I find it intersting that some musicians are able to convey warmth and authenticity while others just sound cold. This album, to me at least, is very moving. Particularly 'Love is'

A good record. I saw him leading a quartet a couple of years after this recording--it was quite good but he inexplicably only played for 40 minutes or so in each of his two sets. I wonder if he was unhappy with his fee.

[ejp626]

A Dewey Redman record I especially enjoy is "The Struggle Continues," on ECM, now no doubt out of print. It's a quartet with Charles Eubanks (piano), Mark Helias (bass), and Ed Blackwell on drums, from the early 80's. It takes "Joie de Vivre," which was on "Ear of the Behearer," and gives it a much more swinging, mainstream treatment. Beautiful album.

I purchased this recently from bmg, it is wonderful! I find it intersting that some musicians are able to convey warmth and authenticity while others just sound cold. This album, to me at least, is very moving. Particularly 'Love is'

I just played this last night. I got it from Yourmusic (believe it is still available there) and was debating whether it was a keeper. It really hit me this time: a lot more in than out (at this point I'm more or less finished with "out" music, though that may change again). I agree, a warm and moving album. So I'm definitely hanging onto this one.

[B. Goren.]

This one is also recommended:

Rita Marcotulli sounds great.

[relyles]

This weekend I watched a very well done documentary on Dewey Redman titled, Dewey Time The Sound Of A Giant. I think it may have originally been broadcast on Canadian TV a few years ago, but is now avialable as a download for $10 from Dewey Time. Once downloaded it can either be viewed on your computer or burned to DVDR. It was produced and directed by Daniel Berman, who also did the Solos: The Jazz Sessions series.

The majority of the documentary is Redman talking about his career - including some honest revelations about a couple of dark aspects of his life. There are also interview segments with Michael Brecker, Charlie Haden, Joe Lovano, Joshua Redman, Stanley Crouch and Redman's mother, who reveals that she never really wanted Dewey Redman to be a jazz musician, and although she loves (loved) her son she never really changed her feelings about his chosen path. In addition there is concert footage from Sweet Basil and another venue of Dewey's quartet with Charles Eubanks, John Menegon and Matt Wilson. Easily recommended to Dewey Redman fans that want to learn more about Dewey.

[GA Russell]

A Dewey Redman record I especially enjoy is "The Struggle Continues," on ECM, now no doubt out of print. It's a quartet with Charles Eubanks (piano), Mark Helias (bass), and Ed Blackwell on drums, from the early 80's. It takes "Joie de Vivre," which was on "Ear of the Behearer," and gives it a much more swinging, mainstream treatment. Beautiful album.

I purchased this recently from bmg, it is wonderful! I find it intersting that some musicians are able to convey warmth and authenticity while others just sound cold. This album, to me at least, is very moving. Particularly 'Love is'

I just played this last night. I got it from Yourmusic (believe it is still available there) and was debating whether it was a keeper. It really hit me this time: a lot more in than out (at this point I'm more or less finished with "out" music, though that may change again). I agree, a warm and moving album. So I'm definitely hanging onto this one.

I didn't get The Struggle Continues until this past May, and I've rarely played it. I don't know why not. I found it this evening at the rear of my 2009 "stack" of CDs, and I'm enjoying it very much. I think this is another album in which I don't like the first track as much as the others. Anyway, tonight I'm glad I have it.

You can listen to it here:

http://www.lala.com/#album/432627039263958...uggle_Continues

[ep1str0phy]

Crazy, weird--I just recently got into a Dewey kick and, lo and behold, this thread works its way to the top of the heap...

I also just recently got a hold of The Struggle Continues--not what I was expecting at all--was hoping that it would be a well-recorded, at least mildly avant session in a more restrained mode than that of the Impulse! recordings--maybe something like Coincide--but I was pleasantly surprised. It's a lot closer in character to his later 80's/90's albums, following a pretty consistent formula of standard, a couple off-kilter "standards" pieces, a hard blues, one or two "free" pieces...

...what puts this one over is that, for once, the band is recorded terrifically, the pieces are consistently interesting (offered energetic treatments by the ensemble), and the band is top notch. Helias is a pillar of strength in the Charlie Haden mold, but with exceeding technical facility and slightly more rhythmic mobility--not Haden's degree of "soul," but a lot more flash. Charles Eubanks acquits himself well--as well as with Rashied Ali, I think, though he's always struck me as a slightly muddy McCoy Tyner disciple... I think his melodic resolve is his big virture here. And Blackwell is so, so hard in the pocket that it blows my mind--this might be one of my favorite performances of his, facile, effortless, but also extremely punchy and rhythmically insistent, just the right bit of "rush."

--Though, I can see on that album why Redman might be considered one of the few "uncapturable" on records--a recording will sound incomparably thin compared to a truly big, live tenor sound. The excellent sonic image of the ECM doesn't blind me to the fact that he probably sounded in a different ballpark in a live setting. As it is, he is very clearly one of the finest melodists the music has ever produced, and his talent for lyricism with even the sparest of harmonic materials has always impressed me.

-

Count me a fan of Musics, though I think I may like it less now than on first hearing. I think part of the problem that the sound (I have the CD) is so unbelievably thin and lifeless--Dewey's is a sound music and would do best with a big, true sound like the ECM's. I love the opening bossa, but I also think that Dewey's forays into "Giant Steps" territory are a little forced and unnecessary. For all the issue of Redman not being able to play changes, I think he's an excellent ballad player, and he wrests and forgives all the pathos out of "Alone Again (Naturally)."

Makes me think of those people who turned into/back into "standards" playing after the revolution ended. I think that Shepp was, secretly, always that way, but maybe lacked at an earlier juncture--maybe still does--the sort of technique necessary to excel in the Parker continuum (a friend played for me I Know About the Life, and it was by far, by far, one of the saddest things I've ever heard.). Dewey I got the sense had something to prove to himself, which is a real shame--reminds me of (I'm paraphrasing) something Leo Smith said, to the effect of "they're" always trying to get you to do something other than what you want to do.

[clifford_thornton]

Makes me think of those people who turned into/back into "standards" playing after the revolution ended. I think that Shepp was, secretly, always that way, but maybe lacked at an earlier juncture--maybe still does--the sort of technique necessary to excel in the Parker continuum (a friend played for me I Know About the Life, and it was by far, by far, one of the saddest things I've ever heard.). Dewey I got the sense had something to prove to himself, which is a real shame--reminds me of (I'm paraphrasing) something Leo Smith said, to the effect of "they're" always trying to get you to do something other than what you want to do.

Man, that is a tough line of thought but I don't disagree with you. Shepp's change of approach - as he sees it, back to the way he played before meeting Cecil - might take quite a bit of unpacking, and that Sackville LP is terrible. It's really hard because, after a point and for some people, playing 'free' or non-changes-based open music can eventually box one in or become tiresome. One wants to see what else there is - not everybody is a Bill Dixon, Roscoe Mitchell or Anthony Braxton. Trouble is, we don't want to hear Dewey or Archie play "in the pocket," even though at times both were good at it. The blues - and maybe Allen can speak to this - is surely at the heart of Dewey's playing, but again, that isn't everything in this music.

[7/4]

I listened to this a few times last week...I like those duets with Sarone.

Dewey Redman - The Ear of the Behearer

[Rasputin]

You guys, this topic is right on the spot.

Mr. Redman spoke about a book he prepared or DID write about saxophone playing and the issues it entails (reeds, mouthpieces etc.) I beleive that he said not long before he died that it was finished.

I think the world of music would benefit SO MUCH from another addition to the little saxophone literature there is. I myself am far thousand of miles from the US, but is there any chance to do something about it? Contact Joshua maybe? There must be a way.

[Guy Berger]

I recently discovered Charlie Haden’s Ballad of the Fallen, which is a really great album, and Dewey has an excellent feature on “La Pasionaria”.