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SCMP Reporter

Key in the name Joshua Redman on an Internet search and you will get a string of Web sites offering snippets of information about this popular young American jazz player.

 You will, for instance, learn that the saxophonist is a Harvard graduate, he does not like Coca-Cola or Pepsi and that 'people have pretty much managed to bleed me dry as far as interviews are concerned'.

 A lot has, indeed, been written about Redman since he burst on to the music scene six years ago with his self-titled debut album. Most column centimetres have been devoted to his 'meteoric rise' to super stardom in the jazz world.

 The 30-year-old has just finished recording with a symphony orchestra in Britain as a jazz soloist and will be coming to the SAR in March to perform at the Hong Kong Arts Festival.

 It will be his second trip to the city since he played in a series of concerts organised by Philip Morris in 1992.

 'I was in Hong Kong for two days and had a great time but that was seven years ago and I have been looking forward to going back,' says Redman, son of the legendary saxophonist Dewey Redman.

 'I remember being overwhelmed by the city-ness of the place, it feels so super urban. I was overwhelmed by the sheer amount of metal and concrete, the size of the buildings and this is from someone who is from New York.'  Apart from bringing his music to the SAR, another reason Redman and his band will be touring the region is to promote their forthcoming album, which is due for release in the Spring.

 But the soprano, alto and tenor saxophonist stresses there is no set programme for his Hong Kong shows.

 'I really try to capture the spirit of the moment in all aspects of the performance,' says Redman, whose 'quartet' includes Greg Hutchinson on drums, Reuben Rogers on bass and pianist Aaron Goldberg.

 'For me, the great thing about jazz is that it's a music that lives and breathes in the present. Jazz is based on improvisation, improvisation is based on playing what you feel in the moment.

 'I also try to extend that spirit of improvisation beyond just the solos we play to the way I construct the set and the way the performance flows. I am sure we will be playing a lot of relatively new music of mine. We've recorded some of that about six months ago and we are going to have a record out, at least in the States, next April.

 Part of Redman's appeal is his ability to mix old and new, blending jazz with pop. Although he was not the first to attempt a jazz-pop reconciliation, the once Grammy nominee was among the few who succeeded.

 But he disagrees with the 'jazz-pop reconciliation' description, saying the two music strands have little to reconcile and that is not the primary objective of his work.

  'I have been influenced by many different kinds of music and by a lot of pop music and have always felt comfortable allowing my influences from outside jazz to colour and to affect what I do as a jazz musician in a very natural way.

 'So, I am not afraid to play a pop tune that may not be considered part of the standard jazz repertoire. And I am also not afraid to allow the spirit and influence of Stevie Wonder or Aretha Franklin or the Beatles or Jimmie Hendrix, musicians I grew up listening to, to come through in what I do as an improviser.

 'I don't see music as the series of discreet, independent, isolated styles. I see music as a continuum and I hear it as a continuum . . . yes, jazz can stand alone, it has a beautiful tradition and heritage in and of itself but I think that it has always had this very interesting and fruitful dialogue with other music, pop being one of them. So, I don't think it takes me to reconcile the two things that are already related to one another.'  Neither does Redman have to reconcile his artistic expression with the increasingly commercially driven music industry.

 He explains: 'I think there is a potential for conflict with any art music that operates in a commercial realm and pretty much all art music to a certain extent operates in the commercial realm because it's in a commercial realm that we make our living.

 'As a jazz musician, I have to deal with the commerce because that is how I put the food on my table. But I never feel that conflict because I don't allow that conflict to affect my musical choices or enter into my musical decision making.

 'I have also been very fortunate in the sense that the music that I wanted to play and believed in has also been music that has had some sort of commercial appeal.

 'And because it has commercial appeal, I have been able to create a situation where more and more people leave me alone and I have less and less pressure because I have been able to make some money for the record company . . . they don't ever try to ask me to do specific things.'  With the worldwide commercial success of hip hop and R'n'B music, has Redman been tempted to collaborate with artists who are outside the traditional jazz sphere?  'I love hip-hop. I grew up with hip-hop I remember when first hip-hop came on the scene in 1979 and 1980. The Sugar Hill Gang, Run DMC, LL Cool J, I grew up with that music and I continue to listen to it,' he says.

 'I would be involved in it when it makes sense. Like I had an opportunity to play with this band the Roots, they are a great, great hip hop band . . . one of the better ones, one of the more creative ones. That was a lot of fun.

 'I am a jazz musician and I love to play jazz. It is always going to be the heart and soul of what I do. But if opportunities to play with musicians outside of jazz arise, I'd jump at them because there is great music happening all over.

 For someone who only turned professional seven years ago, what Redman has achieved is truly phenomenal. He even dabbled in acting when he played Lester Young in Robert Altman's Kansas City a couple of years ago.

 Married two years ago, the jazzman says he has not once looked back.

 'I have a wonderful and very fortunate life experience I am so glad that I am a musician. I get frustrated a lot with my own playing, I am intensely self-critical, but I feel so fortunate that I have the opportunity to play with great musicians all over the world, and I have the opportunity to express myself to an audience, that is a great blessing.' Joshua Redman performs as part of the Hong Kong Arts Festival on March 4 and 5. Tickets at $450, $350, $250 and $150 on sale at Urbtix outlets. Tel inquiries: 2734 9009.



Jazzman with pop