Joshua Redman Announces Sonny Rollins Tribute Album for November
The 11-selection album features Cécile McLorin Salvant, Christian McBride, Chris Potter and other guests.
Joshua Redman will release his third Blue Note album, If Ever You Would Leave Us (we play for Rollins), on Nov. 20, a tribute to Sonny Rollins built around 11 selections from the saxophonist’s repertoire. The album is introduced by the single “Grand Street,” with Redman joined by guitarist Peter Bernstein, bassist Christian McBride and drummer Marcus Gilmore.
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“Grand Street” first appeared on Sonny Rollins And The Big Brass, and the new version carries a family link to that recording: Gilmore’s grandfather, Roy Haynes, played drums on the original. The album’s wider cast includes pianist Kevin Hays, bassist Larry Grenadier, tenor saxophonist Chris Potter and vocalists Cécile McLorin Salvant and Gabrielle Cavassa. Hays and Bernstein are both former members of Rollins’ band. Across the record, Redman works with the musicians in several different configurations rather than using a single fixed ensemble.
Redman began planning the project after Rollins’ passing on May 26. He said the news created an immediate need to respond musically, prompting him to contact friends and colleagues and organize studio sessions in New York within a couple of weeks. “Sonny’s passing definitely hit me hard,” Redman said. “It felt not unlike the passing of a parent. He certainly felt like a musical father, grandfather and godfather, all rolled into one, for me and I think for all of us.” He also said Rollins had been present “for the totality of my life, and a lifetime before mine.”
Redman has described Rollins as his biggest influence as both an improviser and saxophonist, a relationship that dates back to his childhood. He recalled discovering Saxophone Colossus at the Berkeley Public Library when he was 10 or 11, around the time he started playing saxophone. Redman said hearing the album showed him “the true power and potential of jazz improvisation” and became a formative point in his development. “When I discovered Sonny Rollins, that was my gateway, and my North Star,” he said. That long-standing connection provides the personal frame for If Ever You Would Leave Us (we play for Rollins).
Listen to Joshua Redman’s “If Ever You Would Leave Us (we play for Rollins)” here.
