Joshua Redman is an African American jazz saxophonist and composer. His parents were saxophonist Dewey Redman and dancer and librarian Renee Shedroff, bringing music and books into his early environment.
His path into music ran through an academic detour. Redman graduated from Harvard College summa cum laude in 1991 and had already been accepted to Yale Law School, but he deferred admission to give music a trial period in New York. That year he won the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Saxophone Competition, signed with Warner Bros., and the law degree never happened.
He performed with musicians including Elvin Jones, Joe Lovano and Clark Terry. His 1994 album MoodSwing featured pianist Brad Mehldau, bassist Christian McBride and drummer Brian Blade. Albums including Wish and Freedom in the Groove documented further work as a bandleader. The recordings depended on the distinct contributions of the players around him as well as his own saxophone voice.
Redman's work also extended to film, including the score for Vanya on 42nd Street, and to institutional leadership. In 2000, he was named artistic director of SFJAZZ's spring season, and from 2004 to 2007 he was a founding member and musical director of the SFJAZZ Collective, an ensemble devoted to new arrangements of modern jazz and to new compositions.
The MoodSwing quartet remained part of his musical life long after the debut album. Redman, Mehldau, McBride and Blade reunited to record together again, first on RoundAgain and then on LongGone, the same four musicians picking up the conversation the 1994 album had started.
