August 4, 2023
Joshua Redman has released “Baltimore,” the second single to be revealed from the acclaimed saxophonist’s forthcoming Blue Note debut where are we due out September 15. One of two instrumental tracks on the album, “Baltimore” was written by the classically influenced songwriter Gabriel Kahane and is given a transcendent performance by Redman’s quartet featuring pianist Aaron Parks, bassist Joe Sanders, and drummer Brian Blade.
where are we is a musical journey across the United States of America that also marks Redman’s first-ever album with a vocalist—the dynamic young singer Gabrielle Cavassa—who is featured throughout as heard on the album’s lead single “Chicago Blues,” a mash-up of Count Basie’s “Goin’ to Chicago” with Sufjan Stevens’ “Chicago.” Redman will be touring the project across the U.S. and Europe following the album’s release. Stay tuned to joshuaredman.com for tour updates.
Redman notes that “the surface concept of where are we is rather simple: each of the songs on the album is about, or at least makes reference to, a specific geographical location (city or state or region) in the United States: Bruce Springsteen’s ‘Streets of Philadelphia,’ Count Basie’s ‘Going To Chicago,’ Rodgers & Hart’s ‘Manhattan,’ John Coltrane’s ‘Alabama,’ etc… So, on one level, this is an album ‘about’ America — at once a celebration and a critique. But it is also, to varying degrees, a ballads album, a standards album, an album of romantic longing, an album of social reflection, an album of melodic invention, an album of improvisational adventure, an album of mashups, perhaps even a tribute album of sorts.”
For added perspective, Redman invited four other friends to contribute to the portraits of their native cities: guitarists Kurt Rosenwinkel (“Streets of Philadelphia”) and Peter Bernstein (“Manhattan”), trumpeter Nicholas Payton (“Do You Know What It Means to Miss New Orleans?”), and vibraphonist Joel Ross (“Chicago Blues”). Conceived and planned during the pandemic lockdown, Redman says “it was a dream come true to finally have a chance to connect Aaron, Joe, and Brian — three of the most sublimely lyrical and deeply grooving musicians on the planet, who, somehow, had never before played together as a rhythm section. And it was a transformative experience to collaborate with Gabrielle — a vocalist of uncommon style, sincerity, and soul.”
The track listing for where are we is as follows:
Side A
- After Minneapolis (face toward mo[u]rning)
Lyrics written by Joshua Redman, Music written by Joshua Redman and Woodie Guthrie
- Streets Of Philadelphia
Written by Bruce Springsteen
- Chicago Blues
Written by Count Basie, James Rushing, Sufjan Stevens
Side B
- Baltimore
Written by Gabriel Kahane
- By The Time I Get To Phoenix
Written by Jimmy Webb
Side C
- Do You Know What It Means To Miss New Orleans?
Written by Eddie DeLange and Louis Alter
- Manhattan
Written by Lorenz Hart and Richard Rodgers
- My Heart In San Francisco (Holiday)
Written by Joshua Redman, Douglass Cross, George Cory, Thelonious Monk
- That’s New England
Written by Joshua Redman, Charles Ives, James Sinclair
Side D
- Alabama (intro)
Written by John Coltrane
- Stars Fell On Alabama
Written by Frank S. Perkins and Mitchell Parish
- Alabama
Written by John Coltrane
- Where Are You?
Written by Jimmy McHugh, Harold Adamson
