Emitted on tenor saxophone by Joshua Redman, the theme of a landmark Sufjan Stevens song from his album Come On Feel the Illinoise is recognized. Gabrielle Cavassa, Joshua Redman’s colleague and companion, speaks the words of Chicago and traces the melody. The saxophone returns to the charge and the song’s chords become jazz and blues, Count Basie’s “Goin’ To Chicago” is superimposed by the singer before Sufjan’s is brought to a conclusion. An ingenious mashup.
Dedicated to U.S. cities and places and the songs associated with them, this program for jazz quartet and female vocalists jazzifies well-known popular songs. “By The Time I Get To Phoenix”(Jimmy Webb), “Hotel California” (Eagles) , “Streets of Philadelphia” (Bruce Springsteen), “Stars Fell On Alabama”(John Coltrane) and so on.
On the Blue Note label, this corpus was recorded in 2023, “Where Are We”, and that’s what this Tuesday evening at Théâtre Maisonneuve was all about.
These adaptations testify to the taste, refinement and circumspection of the leading saxophonist. Beautiful are the harmonic modifications of the songs in the bridges over which the soloists and accompanists express themselves – Paul Cornish, piano, Philip Norris, double bass, Nazir Ebo, drums.
It’s modern jazz in approach, contemporary jazz in improvisation. Gabrielle’s voice is soft and hushed in appearance, well-suited to the elegance and sensuality of her being, but can also trigger additional themes to those of the songs, performed in unison with a complicit sax. Always evolving, Joshua Redman’s playing reveals new features in his extended techniques, particularly in the air play produced by the instrument’s keys, or in the exploration of high notes and other textural research.
After ceasing to be a form of popular music some 7 or 8 decades ago, modern jazz has long consisted of taking popular songs and transforming their rhythms and harmonies, while retaining their melodic foundations.
Needless to say, this approach is now classic, and that’s exactly what Joshua Redman and Gabrielle Cavassa wanted to do again, much to the delight of the music lovers in the room.
