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Josh Redman’s music has become eclectic enough over the years that I really don’t know what to expect when I pick up one of his CDs. Listening to “Walking Shadows’ for the first time I noticed the saxophone-with-strings sound and figured this was Redman’s ‘easy listening’ album and didn’t think much of it more than that. Although ‘Shadows’ could pass as an easy listening album, I’m glad I gave this album some more listens because it is so much more than mere pleasant background music. In many ways ‘Shadows’ recalls efforts from the 50s to 70s when artists such as Don Sebesky and Gil Evans would combine relaxed jazz with ambitious 3rd stream scores that were presented in an exotic easy listening environment. Les Baxter and Don Ellis also created music along these lines, and you could also include many works by the Ellington-Strayhorn team. In fact, its no big surprise that ’Shadows’ contains an excellent modernized and moody arrangement of Strayhorn’s “Lush Life”.
The music on here is a mix of modern pop tunes, some originals, a couple standards and even a number by JS Bach. Despite the disparate background of the tunes, almost everything on here flows together and is well blended through the creative arrangements. The strings are actually on only half of the tracks, but their comings and goings are so subtle that you don’t notice a huge difference between tracks with or without the orchestra. The rest of the band is made up of Brad Mehldau on piano and vibes, Larry Grenadier on acoustic bass and Brian Blade on drums. Having Brad on board is a nice touch as this sort of high brow dreamy art pop is right down his alley. He not only provides his unique piano fills, but also some arrangements and an original piece too.
Top tune honors goes to an excellent arrangement of Wayne Shorter’s “Infant Eyes”, followed closely by “Lush Life” and “Easy Living”. All of the original tunes are good, with Mehldau’s modern “Last Glimpse of Gotham” sounding like a good fit for a current concert hall program. The only clunker on here is the Beatles wore out “Let it Be”. The simple plaintive melody is no match for the sophistication of the other tunes, and although Redman does his best to change up the melody and make it fit, it still sticks out like a sore thumb. There are a couple of other tracks that aren’t quite up to the quality of this CD’s best numbers.
Redman came very close to creating a classic here, with a little editing, a slightly shorter but better album exists within “Walking Shadows”. On another note, the cover photography is very clever and it fits the music exactly.