About This Album

Saxophonist and composer Joshua Redman is joined by drummer Brian Blade, bassist Scott Colley, and cornetist Ron Miles for Still Dreaming—an album inspired by his father Dewey Redman's 1976–1987 band, Old and New Dreams—released on Nonesuch Records on May 25, 2018. Along with the senior Redman, Old and New Dreams featured an all-star lineup of Ornette Coleman collaborators—cornetist Don Cherry, bassist Charlie Haden, and drummer Ed Blackwell—who continued pushing musical boundaries as they had with Coleman even after their former bandleader moved in a new direction. Still Dreaming features six new compositions by the new band as well as one tune by Haden and one from Coleman.

The Still Dreaming ensemble performed a series of critically praised international dates last year. The Columbus Dispatch said, "Whether exploring the limits of improvisation or establishing an emotional tone, the group … relied on a dialogue based on listening, respect, and generosity … Its emotional travel was the result of the intuition shared by all four musicians. That dialogue, after all, was at the center of Coleman's innovations."

As Redman told NPR's Jazz Night in America: "I envisioned this band with myself and Ron Miles and Scott Colley and Brian Blade … Each of us has a kind of special relationship to the corresponding instrumentalist in Old and New Dreams." Blade, like Blackwell, is from Louisiana; Colley was a student of Haden's; and Miles has long been influenced by Cherry's playing.

Redman told the Boston Globe that Old and New Dreams "were able to play very free, and at times abstract, thorny music. But at the same time there was a folk quality—whether a connection to the blues, or with African music, or with very powerful, simple melodies. Their music had a vulnerability and a poignant lyricism. That balance was something very special." He continued, "It's not our mission to go back and rediscover some Golden Age. I'm hoping this is a band that has a lot of future ahead."

Joshua Redman's first album on Nonesuch was the Grammy-nominated Momentum (2005). His other releases on the label include Back East, Compass, and Trios Live, all of which explore the trio format; MoodSwing (1994, re-issued); Walking Shadows (2013), his first recording to include an orchestral ensemble; The Bad Plus Joshua Redman (2015), a collaboration with the acclaimed trio; and Nearness (2016), a duo album with longtime friend and collaborator Brad Mehldau. Redman currently tours with his trio with bassist Reuben Rogers and drummer Greg Hutchinson; his quartet with pianist Aaron Goldberg, Rogers, and Hutchinson; and occasionally with a collaborative group called James Farm, with pianist Aaron Parks, bassist Matt Penman, and drummer Eric Harland. James Farm has two releases on Nonesuch: their self-titled album from 2011, and City Folk, released in 2014.