Now household worlds in the jazz scene, pianist Brad Mehldau and saxist Josh Redman have played with each other in a variety of concert and studio settings over the years. This reunion of sorts, documented on their luminous album Nearness, was brought to the acoustically adroit Broad Stage with both artists working doubly hard to please the other.
I’ve seen Mehldau multiple times before in settings ranging from solo to his own trio to groupings with the likes of Pat Metheny, and Redman has been in environments ranging from The Bad Plus to his own trio or sitting in with Aaron Goldberg. In a solo format, Mehldau can let the musical pulse be implied, or in a trio setting let the drums and bass carry the load. In a duo mode, both Mehldau and Redman were assiduous in keeping the beat stated and not implied, creating a heavy load that didn’t go unnoticed nor unappreciated.
On soprano sax, Redman provided his sweet honey’d tone to the Old World melody of “Always August” while creating intelligent, logical and flowing solos, interplaying with Mehldau’s veerings like conversations at a coffee bar, while on an unnamed work in progress, Mehldau even admitted “He knows my composition better than I do” as the pianist galloped and Redman rode the whip to supply the accents to the pianist’s propulsive groove. Redman’s own new compositions “A Distance” Redman’s straight horn yearned with elliptical shadows while the pianist supplied the necessary traction for the solos and interpretations.
While Redman’s full bodied tenor rolled in like a San Francisco fog on a read of “My Ideal” that would have made Ben Webster jealous, it was also used as a rhythm instrument. His popping subtones and squeals on the quirky “Let’s Call This” served as a Monk-inspired time piece after Mehldau’s gracious intro, allowing the pianist to explore the deep corners of the bop standard. The other be-bop tune, “Ornithology” was treated like a 52nd Street sonata, as Mehldau scrambled across the ivories with staccato’d fingers delivering the incessant groove for Redman’s explorations.
The 100 minute concert ended with the smoky blues reading of “Hey Joe.” Mehldau’s fingers dug deep into the Mississippi mud as Redman’s tenor resembled field hollers. Throughout the entire evening, you felt that each partner was eager to support and encourage the other, making the audience even more cognizant of the symbiotic effort. There was no coasting on the West Coast this October evening.
Upcoming shows at the Broad Stage/Edye include, Steve Lehman Trio & David Binney Trio Oct 7, Extreme Bass Night Oct 14 and Joey Alexander Oct 15,