In his short career,
Joshua Redman has been praised for his technical abilities and criticized for his lack of innovation -- not surprising responses to the work of a talented young artist. On
Beyond, his seventh album which was recorded a few months after his 30th birthday, he attempts, as the title suggests, to try some new things. Employing an all new group consisting of pianist
Aaron Goldberg, bass player
Reuben Rogers, and drummer
Gregory Hutchinson, he presents an album of original tunes to follow
Timeless Tales (For Changing Times), an album of cover material. Eschewing the pat jazz formula of a head followed by improvisations, he adopts a more free-flowing structure for his compositions in which anyone can start and the tune can develop in an open-ended fashion. He also experiments with time signatures: "A Life?," the closing track, is in 5/4 time; "Stoic Revolutions" is in 6/4; "Belonging (Lopsided Lullaby)" is in 9/4; "Suspended Emanations" is in 10/4; and the lead-off track, "Courage (Asymmetric Aria)," is in 13/4. While no doubt hard to play, the tunes don' t sound all that complicated, perhaps because
Redman's saxophone floats over the rhythm section, taking its time to make its statements. As the song titles imply, this is a contemplative album full of small, introspective pleasures, such as the exploratory "Leap of Faith," on which
Redman and
Mark Turner engage in a tenor conversation. It's not clear that the technical challenges
Redman presents himself and his sidemen with ultimately force them to do anything new, but
Beyond represents a gifted musician tinkering with his musical approach with often satisfying results. ~ William Ruhlmann