Joshua Redman’s popularity lies unparalleled when it comes to playing the saxophone in the contemporary jazz scenario. And he was someone who was almost on his way to Yale Law School to become a lawyer but finally pursued his passion for music. He was here in the city for two performances at the NCPA and Blue Frog last week.
It wasn’t surprising to see the audience go wild after his first act at Blue Frog. This was his first visit to India and a visit that had been pending for long and a visit that would explain to him the nuances of a country that he was closely linked to during his growing up years. Matt Penman accompanied Joshua on bass and Gregory Hutchinson on drums. And the trio created magic on stage.
Joshua who was born into a a family of musicians took to music early in life and was exposed to various kinds of music while he was growing up. His style of performing and the way he carves beautiful patterns with his accompanists is something one needs to watch out for. And the fun lies in simply enjoying those patterns. Since the music was entertaining, it would be easy to assume that the pieces were simple and straightforward if one were to actually analyse musical patterns, on would realise that they follow complex paths without the audience realising. There was a certain suspense in his music, which kept one wanting for more. Joshua admits to being distracted before a performance but there are no two ways about it during a performance. “Before every performance I tend to be distracted. But during a performance I am completely calm and extremely focussed. There is a strange sense of serenity that falls over me when I am on stage. I am completely at ease with myself,” says Joshua. This aspect does come across very well in his performances as the comfort level shows on stage. The chemistry that the trio shares on stage is stupendous. And the well-rehearsed performance seemed amazingly spontaneous.
Joshua grew up in Berkeley and graduated from Berkeley High School. He went on to study social sciences at the prestigious Harvard University where he was a member of the Phi Beta Kappa. He says that these were the places where he developed strong musical friendships. “I met a number of musicians at Berkley and Harvard who influenced me too,” says Joshua. He was exposed to variety of music ranging from jazz to classical, to rock, soul, African, Middle-Eastern as well as Indian.
Along with different genres, he was also exposed to wide range of musical instruments such as the recorder, piano, guitar, ghatam and gamelan. “My formal music training began when my mother enrolled me in Indonesian and Indian music classes at the Center for World Music in San Diego. I learnt Mridangam and ghatam at a very rudimentary level. I began playing the clarinet at the age of nine before switching to what became my primary instrument, the tenor saxophone,” says Joshua who released his first album in 1993.
Joshua has a strong Indian connect as his mother learnt Indian Classical dance at Cultural Center in Berkley. “When I was 4 years old, I would go with her to the Center as she would learn the Indian and Indonesian dance. I learnt the mridangam and the Ghatam. I feel that Indian music is deep in me, on a subconscious level, but I do not have any outward knowledge of it,” explains Joshua.
He has heard of a few Indian musicians who have left a global imprint of their music. “Some of them include TH Vinayakram, my ghatam teacher, Ustad Bismillah Khan (my mother loves the shehnai); Ravi Shankar and Zakir Hussain,” says Joshua.