Tenor Legacy

George Adams and I played together at the Mt. Fuji Jazz Festival and we had such a beautiful rapport that we decided to do this recording. But George got sick and Josh stepped in. He had just moved to New York and I knew him from playing with his dad, the great Dewey Redman. Josh is a very distinctive voice as a young saxophonist on the scene.

Mulgrew, Christian and Lewis were working together as a trio at the time. I met Mulgrew in the 70s in Boston, so I had known him for quite some time. I’ve loved playing with him through the years. Working with these guys felt so good that they became my working Quartet.

The repertoire is all original tunes I wrote for the date with each tune presenting a different combination of players, from the full sextet to a duo. Blackwell had just passed when we did this so Blackwell’s Message was a special piece I wrote to feature Lewis and the great Don Alias, as was Bread and Wine, which is the body and blood of the music. That one features the two saxes and the two drummers.