Joshua Redman makes his
Blue Note debut with his nuanced 2023 travelog
where are we. Along with being his first studio album for the storied jazz label (and his 16th overall),
where are we is also his first primarily vocal-oriented production, featuring singer
Gabrielle Cavassa. Also joining him is pianist
Aaron Parks, bassist
Joe Sanders, and drummer
Brian Blade. Vocally, the California-born/New Orleans-based
Cavassa has a warm sound that bridges the gap between the relaxed style of alt pop artists like
Billie Eilish with jazz and R&B luminaries like
Billie Holiday and
Phyllis Hyman. She fits nicely alongside
Redman, whose own burnished tone has always evinced a vocal-like quality. There's a sense throughout the album that
Redman is pulling songs from an array of influences. Most emblematic of this broad palette is "Chicago Blues," a heady cross-stitch of
Count Basie's "Goin' to Chicago" and indie singer/songwriter
Sufjan Stevens' "Chicago" that also features Chicago-bred vibraphonist
Joel Ross.
Redman returns to the hometown concept throughout the album, bringing along several special guests who each play a song associated with the place they grew up. Crescent City-born trumpeter
Nicholas Payton jumps on board for a boldly reharmonized take on "Do You Know What It Means," while guitarist
Kurt Rosenwinkel sprinkles his fusion-influenced lines on a convincingly reworked rendition of
Bruce Springsteen's "Streets of Philadelphia." We also get New York guitarist
Peter Bernstein for an urbane and swinging take on the
Richard Rodgers and
Lorenz Hart standard "Manhattan." Elsewhere,
Cavassa settles into warm readings of "By the Time I Get to Phoenix," "That's New England," and "Stars Fell on Alabama," all of which bring to mind the relaxed, '50s jazz of singers like
June Christy, albeit with a modern creative jazz and classical-inflected artfulness that longtime
Redman fans will be familiar with. ~ Matt Collar
![Pharoah [Expanded Edition]](http://prodimage.images-bn.com/pimages/0680899800822_p0_v2_s90x140.jpg "Pharoah [Expanded Edition]")
