Joshua Redman shapes his father’s Dreams into his own

In the broad-brush history of jazz, the late 1970s is best known as the era of fusion, when major labels favored a mingling of jazz and rock, with mixed results. But there was plenty more going on. Recording for independent, often European labels, jazz artists extended the revolutionary work of the previous decade, enriching concepts like free and experimental jazz with new expressions, textures, and feelings.

One such group was Old and New Dreams, a quartet that made three studio albums on the Black Saint and ECM labels from 1977 to 1980. It was a powerhouse unit, with Don Cherry on trumpet, Dewey Redman on tenor saxophone, Charlie Haden on bass, and Ed Blackwell on drums. All were veterans, some going back to the late 1950s, of Ornette Coleman’s pathbreaking free-jazz groups. Old and New Dreams worked in Coleman’s distinctive musical language: structurally minimalist, with an emphasis on collective improvisation, yet melodic and often hauntingly lyrical.

Old and New Dreams is semi-obscure now, known mainly to jazz nerds or fans of its individual members, the last of whom, Haden, died in 2014. Now a new project, Still Dreaming, has emerged to pick up where the quartet left off. Convened by saxophonist Joshua Redman — Dewey’s son — and featuring bassist Scott Colley, a former student of Haden’s, along with trumpeter Ron Miles and drummer Brian Blade, it is part homage, part fresh exploration.

By Siddhartha Mitter

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