Redman, Mehldau, McBride, and Blade Reunite for “RoundAgain”
Back in 1994, a quartet comprised of the new face of jazz came together to release what would become the game-changing album, MoodSwing. Now that same band – featuring saxophonist Joshua Redman, pianist Brad Mehldau, drummer Brian Blade, and bassist Christian McBride – have reunited for a new album called RoundAgain. While their first recording was phenomenal, they’ve only gotten better over the ensuing 26 years.
“These guys have grown exponentially,”?McBride states.?“They are super-monsters now, and playing with them gave me a hard look at myself.?And when you’re intimate creating art, even if you don’t play together for?twenty?years, you only need two bars to realize what the feeling is about, because the feeling never leaves.”
The quartet, which was Redman’s first group as a bandleader, was only together for a year and a half before each player went their own way. “I realized almost immediately that this band?wouldn’t?stay together for very long,” the saxophonist admits. “They were without a doubt, for our generation, among the?most accomplished and innovative on their respective instruments. They were already all in such high demand—everyone wanted to play with them! And they all had such strong and charismatic musical personalities—destined to start soon pursuing their own independent visions. I knew better than anyone else just how incredibly lucky I was to have even that short time with them.”?
RoundAgain features seven newly penned songs with three by Redman, two by Mehldau, one by Blade, and one by McBride (“Floppy Diss”). Hear the band talk about RoundAgain:
RoundAgain is available now on CD, vinyl and as a digital download (iTunes and Amazon MP3).
RoundAgain Track List:
- Undertow
- Moe Honk
- Silly Little Love Song
- Right Back Round Again
- Floppy Diss
- Father
- Your Part To Play
