Music Monday: Redman, Grubbs, and The Deslondes

This past week has been productive to the point where I’ve not had as much time to listen to music as I perhaps would have liked.

I did, however, take some time to listen to some Dewey Redman on and around his May 17th birthday. I’ve always enjoyed his debut album, Look to the Black Star (1966) which showcased Redman’s bluesy and almost Rollinsesque tone. I started to listen to Redman more seriously as I grew to appreciate James Brandon Lewis’s style which like Redman before him anchors his avant guard leanings in the deep blues.

Of course, anyone who likes Redman also probably finds a lot to like in Old and New Dreams where Redman plays with Don Cherry, Charlie Haden, and Eddie Blackwell. Although the 1979 album of that name is worth its accolades, I slightly prefer the rawer and more “exotic” edge to the 1977 album.

Finally, I’ve been enjoying the recent resurgence of Philadelphia’s Grubbs brothers. They’re a pair of saxophone players related to John Coltrane via their cousin Naima who was Coltrane’s first wife. They performed with a wide range of sidemen as The Visitors. This spring, the Jazz Dispensary re-released their 1976 album Motherland. I’m sure I’ll post that soon enough, but since The Visitors earlier albums are a bit hard to track down on streaming services and their first album Neptune (1972) was never released on CD. (Neptune appeared on Joe Field’s Cobblestone label along with the first Catalyst album; Fields goes on to found Muse records and they released the next three albums from The Visitors). And, of course, they play “Naima”:

Finally, I’ve been fan of The Deslondes since reading Natalie Weiner’s piece on their last album. Their latest album Don’t Let it Die, Vol. 1, is covers of some of the music that inspired them. The recordings are nice and apparent done on analogue tape.