Dewey Redman

Among the great avant-garde tenors, Dewey Redman hasn’t received anywhere close to the acclaim that his boy Joshua Redman gained within the 1990s, but ironically Dewey is a lot more of a forward thinking player. He started on clarinet when he was 13 and performed in his senior high school marching music group, an organization that also included Ornette Coleman, Charles Moffett, and Prince Lasha. Redman was a general public school instructor during 1956-1959 but, after obtaining his master’s level in education from North Tx State, he shifted to SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA where he freelanced like a musician for seven years; Pharoah Sanders was among his sidemen. All this was a prelude to his amazing association using the Ornette Coleman Quartet (1967-1974), where Redman’s tenor playing was an ideal match for Ornette’s alto. Redman could play as free of charge as the innovator but his attractive tone produced the music appear a bit more available. He also caused Charlie Haden’s Liberation Music Orchestra and was a significant section of Keith Jarrett’s very best group, his quintet from the middle-’70s. Redman guested on Pat Metheny’s significant 80/81 recording and teamed up with Don Cherry, Charlie Haden, and Ed Blackwell within the Ornette Coleman reunion music group called Aged and New Dreams. Despite all this activity and a lot of recordings (including periodic ones like a head), Dewey Redman provides yet to become fully regarded for his innovative abilities.