Dewey Redman

Dewey Redman
Dewey Redman at Moers Festival, June 2006, Germany
Background information
Birth name	Walter Dewey Redman
Born	May 17, 1931(1931-05-17)
Origin	Fort Worth, Texas, U.S.
Died	September 2, 2006(2006-09-02) (aged 75) Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
Genres	Jazz
Occupations	Musician
Instruments	Saxophone
Labels	Impulse! Records, ECM
Associated acts	Ornette Coleman, Keith Jarrett, Old And New Dreams, Charlie Haden, Pat Metheny

Dewey Redman (born Walter Dewey Redman in Fort Worth, Texas, May 17, 1931; d. Brooklyn, New York September 2, 2006) was an American jazz saxophonist, known for performing free jazz as a bandleader, and with Ornette Coleman and Keith Jarrett.

Redman played mainly tenor saxophone, though he occasionally doubled on alto saxophone, played the Chinese suona (which he called a musette) and on rare occasions played the clarinet.

His son is saxophonist Joshua Redman.

Biography

After high school, Redman briefly enrolled in the electrical engineering program at the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama, but became disillusioned with the program and returned home to Texas. In 1953, Redman earned a Bachelors Degree in Industrial Arts from Prairie View Agricultural and Mechanical University. While at Prairie View, he switched from clarinet to alto saxophone, then, eventually, to tenor. Following his bachelor's degree, Redman served two-years in the US Army.

Upon his discharge from the Army, Redman began working on a master’s degree in education at the University of North Texas. While working on his degree, he taught music to fifth graders in Bastrop, Texas, and worked as a freelance saxophonist on nights and weekends around Austin, Texas. In 1957, Redman earned a Masters Degree in Education with a minor in Industrial Arts from the University of North Texas. While at North Texas, he did not enroll in any music classes.

Towards the end of 1959, Redman moved to San Francisco, a musical choice resulting in an early collaboration with Donald Rafael Garrett.

Dewey Redman at Moers Festival, June 2006, Germany

Redman was best known for his collaborations with saxophonist Ornette Coleman, with whom he performed in his Fort Worth high school marching band. He later performed with Coleman from 1968 to 1972, appearing on the recording New York Is Now, among others. He also played in pianist Keith Jarrett's American Quartet (1971–1976), and was a member of the collective Old And New Dreams. The American Quartet's The Survivor's Suite was voted Jazz Album of the Year by Melody Maker in 1978.

He also performed and recorded as an accompanying musician with jazz musicians who performed in varying styles within the post-1950s jazz idiom, including bassist and fellow Coleman-alum Charlie Haden and guitarist Pat Metheny.

With a dozen recordings under his own name Redman established himself as one of the more prolific tenor players of his generation. Though generally associated with free jazz (with an unusual, distinctive technique of sometimes humming into his saxophone as he played), Redman's melodic tenor playing was often reminiscent of the blues and post-bop mainstream. Redman's live shows were as likely to feature standards and ballads as the more atonal improvisations for which he was known.

Redman was the subject of an award-winning documentary film Dewey Time (dir. Daniel Berman, 2001).

On February 19 and 21, 2004, Redman played tenor saxophone as a special guest with Jazz at Lincoln Center, in a concert entitled "The Music of Ornette Coleman."^{audio link}

Redman died of liver failure in Brooklyn, New York, on September 2, 2006. He is survived by his wife, Lidija Pedevska-Redman, as well as sons Tarik and Joshua, who is also a jazz saxophonist. The father and son recorded two albums together.

Discography

As leader

• 1966: Look for the Black Star (Freedom)
• 1969: Tarik (BYG Actuel)
• 1973: The Ear of the Behearer (Impulse!)
• 1974: Coincide (Impulse!)
• 1975: Look for the Black Star (Arista Freedom)
• 1979: Musics (Galaxy)
• 1979: Soundsigns (Galaxy)
• 1980: Red and Black in Willisau with Ed Blackwell (Black Saint)
• 1982: The Struggle Continues (ECM)
• 1989: Living on the Edge (Black Saint)
• 1992: Choices (Enja)
• 1992: African Venus (Evidence)
• 1996: In London (Palmetto)
• 1998: Momentum Space (Verve) with Cecil Taylor and Elvin Jones

With Old and New Dreams

• Old and New Dreams (Black Saint, 1976)
• Old and New Dreams (ECM, 1979)
• Playing (ECM, 1980)
• A Tribute to Blackwell (Black Saint, 1987)

As sideman

With Jon Ballantyne

• 4tets (Real Artist Works, 2000)

With Ed Blackwell

• Walls-Bridges (Black Saint, 1992)

With Michael Bocian

• Reverence (Enja 1994)

With Don Cherry

• Relativity Suite (JCOA, 1973)

With Ornette Coleman

• New York Is Now! (Blue Note, 1968)
• Love Call (Blue Note, 1968)
• Crisis (Impulse!, 1969)
• Friends and Neighbors: Live at Prince Street (Flying Dutchman, 1970)
• Science Fiction (Columbia, 1971)
• Broken Shadows (Columbia, 1971-2 [1982])

With Cameron Brown

• Here and How! (OmniTone, 1997)

With Charlie Haden's Liberation Music Orchestra

• Liberation Music Orchestra (Impulse!, 1970)
• The Ballad of the Fallen (ECM, 1982)
• Dream Keeper (Blue Note, 1990)

With Keith Jarrett

• El Juicio (The Judgement) (Atlantic, 1971)
• Birth (Atlantic, 1971)
• Expectations (Columbia, 1972)
• Fort Yawuh (Impulse!, 1973)
• Treasure Island (Impulse!, 1974)
• Death and the Flower (Impulse!, 1974)
• Backhand (Impulse!, 1974)
• Shades (Impulse!, 1975)
• Mysteries (Impulse!, 1975)
• The Survivors' Suite (ECM, 1976)
• Bop-Be (Impulse!, 1977)

With Leroy Jenkins

• For Players Only (JCOA, 1975)

With Pat Metheny

• 80/81 (ECM, 1980)

With Paul Motian

• Monk in Motian (JMT, 1988)
• Trioism (JMT, 1993)

With Roswell Rudd & The Jazz Composer's Orchestra

• Numatik Swing Band (JCOA, 1973)

With Clifford Thornton & The Jazz Composers Orchestra

• The Gardens of Harlem (JCOA, 1975)

With Randy Weston

• Spirits of Our Ancestors (Antilles, 1991)

References

General references

• In Black and White. A guide to magazine articles, newspaper articles, and books concerning Black individuals and groups. Third edition, Supplement. Edited by Mary Mace Spradling. Detroit: Gale Research, 1985
• The Negro Almanac. A reference work on the Afro American. Third edition. Edited by Harry A. Ploski and Warren Marr, II. New York: Bellwether Co., 1976. Later editions published as The African-American Almanac
• The African-American Almanac. Sixth edition. Detroit: Gale Research, 1994. Formerly published as The Negro Almanac
• The African American Almanac. Eighth edition. Detroit: Gale Group, 2000. Formerly published as The Negro Almanac
• The African American Almanac. Ninth edition. Detroit: Gale Group, 2003. Formerly published as The Negro Almanac
• All Music Guide to Jazz. The experts' guide to the best jazz recordings. Second edition. Edited by Michael Erlewine. San Francisco: Miller Freeman Books, 1996
• All Music Guide to Jazz. The definitive guide to jazz music. Fourth edition. Edited by Vladimir Bogdanov, Chris Woodstra and Stephen Thomas Erlewine. San Francisco: Backbeat Books, 2002
• Biography Index. A cumulative index to biographical material in books and magazines. Volume 13: September, 1982-August, 1984. New York: H.W. Wilson Co., 1984
• Biography Index. A cumulative index to biographical material in books and magazines. Volume 18: September, 1992-August, 1993 New York: H.W. Wilson Co., 1993
• Biography Index. A cumulative index to biographical material in books and magazines. Volume 26: September, 2000-August, 2001 New York: H. W. Wilson Co., 2001
• Biography Index. A cumulative index to biographical material in books and magazines. Volume 29: September, 2003-August, 2004. New York: H. W. Wilson Co., 2004
• Contemporary Musicians. Profiles of the people in music. Volume 32. Detroit: Gale Group, 2001
• The Encyclopedia of Popular Music. Third edition. Eight volumes. Edited by Colin Larkin. London: MUZE, 1998. Grove's Dictionaries, New York, 1998
• The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Jazz. By Brian Case and Stan Britt. New York: Harmony Books, 1978
• The Negro Almanac. A reference work on the Afro-American. Fourth edition. Compiled and edited by Harry A. Ploski and James Williams. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1983
• The Negro Almanac. A reference work on the African American. Fifth edition. Detroit: Gale Research, 1989
• The New Grove Dictionary of American Music. Four volumes. Edited by H. Wiley Hitchcock and Stanley Sadie. London: Macmillan Press, 1986
• The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz. First edition. Two volumes. Edited by Barry Kernfeld. London: Macmillan Press, 1988
• The Penguin Encyclopedia of Popular Music. Edited by Donald Clarke. New York: Viking Press, 1989
• Who's Who in America. 42nd edition, 1982-1983. Wilmette, IL: Marquis Who's Who, 1982
• Who's Who in America. 43rd edition, 1984-1985. Wilmette, IL: Marquis Who's Who, 1984
• Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians. Ninth edition. Edited by Laura Kuhn. New York: Schirmer Books, 2001
• The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz. Edited by Barry Kernfeld. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1994
• The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz. Second edition. Three volumes. Edited by Barry Kernfeld. London: Macmillan Publishers, 2002
• ASCAP Biographical Dictionary. Fourth edition. Compiled for the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers by Jaques Cattell Press. New York: R.R. Bowker, 1980
• Biographical Dictionary of Afro-American and African Musicians. By Eileen Southern. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1982
• Biographical Dictionary of Jazz. By Charles Eugene Claghorn. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1982
• The Encyclopedia of Jazz in the Seventies. By Leonard Feather and Ira Gitler. New York: Horizon Press, 1976
• Who's Who in America. 59th edition, 2005. New Providence, NJ: Marquis Who's Who, 2004

Inline citations

External links

• "Dewey Redman: The Sound of a Giant", from All About Jazz site
• "Dewey Redman: an Enduring Original, 1931-2006", obituary in Jazz Police magazine, by Andrea Carter.
• The Bad Plus obituary
• Dewey Redman obituary from All About Jazz
• [1], obituary in The New York Times by Ben Ratliff.
• Dewey Redman Audio Interviews - Jazz History Database
• Dewey Redman performance with Jazz at Lincoln Center
• Dewey Redman tracks on YouTube