Sep 22, 2026 12:26 PM
Hyde Park Jazz Fest on Chicago’s South Side to Present 20th Edition
The Hyde Park Jazz Festival will take place for the 20th time on the final weekend of September 2026. Beginning half…
Redman developed a musical career around the tenor saxophone and musette. En route to these instruments, Redman, born in Fort Worth, Texas, on May 17, 1931, began as a clarinetist at the age of 13, soon followed by alto saxophone. It was as a student at Prairie View Agricultural and Mechanical University, where he received his bachelor's degree in 1953, that he changed to tenor. Following college, from 1956-'60, Redman worked as a high school teacher and started working as a professional musician while attending North Texas State University, where he received a Masters degree in 1959. A move to San Francisco was a musical choice, resulting in an early collaboration with Donald Garrett.
Perhaps Redman's most significant collaborations occurred during the years 1967-'74, when he was a member of Ornette Coleman's New York group. During this time he also played with Charlie Haden's Liberation Music Orchestra (1969) as well as with Keith Jarrett's band (1971-'76). Redman also led his own bands in this period, with drummer Eddie Moore being one of his most used sidemen.
Redman's signature style emerged as a result of these collaborative efforts, a style characterized by vocalizing through his horn. At this time, he also picked up the musette. Another major development came with he helped form Old and New Dreams, a band comprised of former Coleman bandmates. Don Cherry, Haden and Ed Blackwell worked together with Redman in this band. This group toured extensively and recorded together into the 1980s.
Redman's own recordings included a collaboration with Cecil Taylor and Elvin Jones (Momentum Space, Verve, 1999) and a program of blues, free-jazz and bop, titled The Struggle Continues (ECM, 1982). His other albums included Redman And Blackwell In Willisau (duos with Blackwell, Black Saint, 1980), Ear Of The Behearer (Impulse!, 1973), Old And New Dreams (Black Saint, 1976), New York Is Now! (As a sideman with Coleman, Blue Note, 1968), Liberation Music Orchestra (as a sideman with Haden, Impulse!, 1969), El Juicio (as a sideman with Jarrett, Atlantic, 1971) and 80/81 (as a sideman with Pat Metheny, ECM, 1980).
Along with leading his own bands, Redman also performed alongside his son, tenor saxophonist Joshua Redman, and was a mentor to drummer Matt Wilson. Dewey Redman's last concert was on Aug. 27 at the Charlie Parker Jazz Festival in New York.
A solo concert by saxophonist Joshua Redman will close the first night of the Hyde Park Jazz Festival on Sept. 26.
Sep 22, 2026 12:26 PM
The Hyde Park Jazz Festival will take place for the 20th time on the final weekend of September 2026. Beginning half…
“It was just that suddenly … I could hear it,” Ravi Coltrane said of an epiphany he experienced during his late teens regarding his father’s music. “And it was almost like a calling, like something saying, ‘Hey, man, come on. It’s time to get serious.’ And the first time you really tune in and dial in and focus like that, it can be very life-changing.”
Sep 22, 2026 1:39 PM
Editor’s Note: Tomorrow, Sept. 23, is the 100th anniversary of John Coltrane’s birth. In honor of the tenor and…
Camille Thurman took to the stage alongside bassist Kenny Davis and drummer Tommy Campbell for a rendition of Johnny Mercer’s “I’m An Old Cowhand” that recalled Rollins’ epochal 1957 trio outing Way Out West.
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As emcee Mark Ruffin noted at the commencement of an epic tribute to saxophonist Sonny Rollins at the Cathedral of Saint…
Kurt Elling, Katherine Russell and Emmet Cohen (host on the 2027 Jazz Cruise) share a laugh at sea.
Sep 8, 2026 11:52 AM
It began in 2001. A travel agent named Anita E. Berry had been booking clients on “partial” jazz cruises that took…
Sep 17, 2026 11:00 AM
The 2027 DownBeat College Guide is an invaluable resource for music students, especially jazz students, to find a school…
