Tonight, in San Francisco's Grace Cathedral, tenor saxophonist Joshua Redman takes on one of the most difficult challenges a solo instrumentalist can face. Standing alone in the cathedral's transept, he will perform a set of solo improvisations.
A solo tenor saxophone, of course, lacks the chord-producing potential of a piano or a guitar, so "alone" really means alone--one note at a time, with no harmony and no percussion accompaniment.
The cathedral will, however, provide Redman with one distinct asset: a rich and resonant echo that can take seconds to reverberate around the interior of the cavernous structure.
"I'm sort of counting on that sound delay," Redman says. "It can make anyone sound good. But it does have some problems too. It's great for slower tunes, where you can sort of play with the sound, overlap tones and so forth. But it gets trickier with the faster tunes, where it's almost impossible to articulate anything clearly when you're playing fast. So it's quite a challenge. But I'm really looking forward to it."
Redman's performance will be the opening event in SFJAZZ Spring Series 2000, the first program in the San Francisco Jazz Festival's new series of spring programming. He serves as artistic director and artist-in-residence for the series, which continues into June.
Saturday night, a tribute to Wayne Shorter features an all-star saxophone battery consisting of Shorter, Redman, Joe Lovano and Branford Marsalis with the equally impressive rhythm section of Brad Mehldau, Robert Hurst and Greg Hutchinson. The Joe Lovano Group performs another concert Sunday afternoon, and Redman hosts a Jazz on Film event examining the history of the jazz saxophone on Sunday night.
"We did a lot of planning to get this weekend together," Redman says, "and I'm very proud of the way it's worked out."
Given the currently rapid pace of his career, it's a wonder that Redman has found time to even perform in San Francisco, much less participate in the production process. His seventh album, "Beyond," will be released on Warner Bros. on April 4. Working with his regular group--Aaron Goldberg on piano, Greg Hutchinson on drums and Reuben Rogers on bass--Redman has recorded a collection of largely original material, much of it based on themes with unusual time signatures.
