A reunion of saxophonist Joshua Redman's original acoustic quartet, 2020's ebullient RoundAgain showcases his long-running creative friendship with bandmates pianist Brad Mehldau, bassist Christian McBride, and drummer Brian Blade. Redman first documented the sound of this group on his acclaimed 1994 album MoodSwing. Even then, the quartet was a supergroup in the making, featuring four of the most highly touted players of their generation. While they have continued to work together in various incarnations throughout their careers, RoundAgain is the first proper recording by the quartet in over two decades. As with MoodSwing, RoundAgain features all-original music with each player bringing along a composition. As each of the four musicians here have distinguished themselves as distinctive bandleaders in their own right, it's fascinating to hear their individual styles come to the fore throughout the album. They kick off with Redman's classical-leaning "Undertow," an introspective and noirish piece built around a descending circular piano pattern from Mehldau. Conversely, Mehldau's "Moe Honk" evokes the frenetic cartoon music of Carl Stalling as he and Redman chase each other like jealous hummingbirds over the song's spiraling melody. Equally compelling is McBride's "Floppy Diss," a soulful, off-kilter blues that allows for some wryly inventive improvisational stretching out. We also get Redman's funky, gospel-inflected "Silly Little Love Song," and Mehldau's harmonically nuanced "Father" with its wave-like 3/4 groove. The album ends evocatively with Blade's dusky, rubato ballad "Your Part to Play." Beginning with a sweetly attenuated bass line from McBride, the song builds slowly as Redman joins in, doubling the minor-key melody, before Mehldau and Blade push the group to the song's peak: a mélange of brushes, cymbals, and woody hand percussion, crystalline piano flourishes, and Redman's breathy sax tones. In some ways, RoundAgain feels like the perfect follow-up to MoodSwing, an album that could have arrived in the late '90s. Yet, it is hard to imagine Redman and his quartet summoning the same warmth and relaxed intensity that they do here without the decades of experience and deep familiarity they've cultivated with each other over the years. ~ Matt Collar, Rovi

1		Undertow
2		Moe Honk
3		Silly Little Love Song
4		Right Back Round Again
5		Floppy Diss
6		Father
7		Your Part To Play

	Like us on Facebook
	@SoundHound	Follow