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REDMAN • MEHLDAU • MCBRIDE • BLADE – A MoodSwing Reunion

REDMAN • MEHLDAU • MCBRIDE • BLADE
A MoodSwing Reunion

 

MoodSwing, the 1994 album by Joshua Redman’s first permanent quartet, was an astonishing collection by four
precociously talented musicians who would rapidly establish themselves as creative beacons. After years of individual
triumphs, saxophonist Redman, pianist Brad Mehldau, bassist Christian McBride, and drummer Brian Blade join forces
again on the Nonesuch album RoundAgain. The recording finds each band member contributing music to a program of
stunning variety and sixth-sense interaction.

Redman remembers what he describes as “a hodge-podge of gigs” that followed his victory in the 1991 Thelonious Monk
Institute International Saxophone Competition, leading to his first permanent touring quartet. McBride, who had also
quickly established himself as a dynamic young talent, participated in some of Redman’s earliest recordings and live sets.
Blade met Redman in New Orleans in 1990 and came aboard for the saxophonist’s first tour as a bandleader. Mehldau,
whose 1992 working trio supported Redman for several nights at the Village Vanguard, joined the others just in time for
the quartet’s appearance at the 1993 Newport Jazz Festival. Over the next year and a half, the Joshua Redman Quartet
toured widely, recorded MoodSwing and gave the ever-searching leader exactly what he was looking for.

The sessions underscored how magical the foursome remains. “We rehearsed for one afternoon, did two nights at The
Falcon in Marlboro, NY, and then went into the studio,” Redman reports. “And as soon as we started playing, the magic
was still there.”

His bandmates agree. “These guys have grown exponentially,” McBride insists. “They are super-monsters now, and
playing with them gave me a hard look at myself. And when you’re intimate creating art, even if you don’t play together
for twenty years, you only need two bars to realize what the feeling is about, because the feeling never leaves.”

 


JOSHUA REDMAN

Blind Boys   

BRAD MEHLDAU

Amadou + Mariam   

CHRISTIAN MCBRIDE

Amadou + Mariam   

BRIAN BLADE

Amadou + Mariam   

Contact Info

Joshua Redman management, (617) 354-2736

Brian Reid, brian[a]wilkinsmanagement.com
Nancy Williams, nancy[a]wilkinsmanagement.com