The original members of the Joshua Redman Quartet have reunited for a new album due out this summer.
It’s a star-studded group, with the saxophonist Redman teamed up for the first time in 26 years with pianist Brad Mehldau, bassist Christian McBride and drummer Brian Blade. This is a band that formed when its four members were still new to the New York jazz scene — now, they’re living legends.
“I realized almost immediately that this band wouldn’t stay together for very long,” Redman said in a press release. “They were without a doubt, for our generation, among the most accomplished and innovative on their respective instruments … I knew better than anyone else just how incredibly lucky I was to have even that short time with them.”
The new album, RoundAgain, is the quartet’s first recording together since 1994’s MoodSwing, and ought to be one of the year’s most hotly anticipated jazz releases.
RoundAgain features seven new compositions: three from Redman, two from Mehldau, and one each from McBride and Blade.
Ahead of the album’s release, NPR Music has premiered the first song from the record, Right Back Round Again.