MoodSwing cover
Released

Saxophonist Joshua Redman’s third album, released in 1994, featured a band of up-and-coming peers: Brad Mehldau on piano, Christian McBride on bass, and Brian Blade on drums. His first two releases had mixed originals with jazz standards and pop tunes, but he wrote everything here, and although it suffers a little from CD bloat (11 tracks in 70 minutes), the album has a consistency that matches its title. It’s cool, even somewhat reticent; Redman’s compositions are frequently simple blues riffs or short, hooky melodies (“Alone in the Morning,” a gentle samba, is an exception), and he plays them in an introspective manner reminiscent of late-period Joe Henderson. Mehldau, McBride, and Blade are a terrific rhythm section, coloring inside the lines but still conveying plenty of excitement and youthful enthusiasm, the drummer in particular. The pianist was often accused, early in his career, of being a Bill Evans acolyte, so it’s interesting to hear him drop in some Keith Jarrett moves on this record.

Phil Freeman

Recommended by

Suggestions
Amoroso… Only More So cover

Amoroso… Only More So

Norma Winstone, Bobby Wellins, Stan Tracey
The Centennial Trilogy cover

The Centennial Trilogy

Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah
Duo en Noir cover

Duo en Noir

Ran Blake, Enrico Rava
Vaghissimo Ritratto cover

Vaghissimo Ritratto

Fulvio Maras, Umberto Petrin, Gianluigi Trovesi
Accelerando cover

Accelerando

Vijay Iyer Trio
Pax cover

Pax

Andrew Hill
Time Out Trio cover

Time Out Trio

Géraldine Laurent
Crazy People Music cover

Crazy People Music

Branford Marsalis
The End of a Summer cover

The End of a Summer

Julia Hülsmann Trio