Joshua Redman, Brad Mehldau, Christian McBride & Brian Blade Release ‘RoundAgain’ Album

Saxophonist Joshua Redman rounded up the original Joshua Redman Quartet for their first recordings since MoodSwing in 1994. Redman, pianist Brad Mehldau, bassist Christian McBride and drummer Brian Blade released RoundAgain today via Nonesuch.

RoundAgain contains seven new songs. Redman contributed three to the LP, which also features two from Mehldau and one a piece penned by McBride and Blade. The 26-year period between records was due more to the band members’ busy schedules more than anything else. “I knew it would happen, but I didn’t know when,” Redman explained in a statement. ”We were all so busy, and we needed the space, both in our schedules and in our creative development.”

Redman shared the following about his initial experience with the group:

I realized almost immediately that this band wouldn’t stay together for very long. They were without a doubt, for our generation, among the most accomplished and innovative on their respective instruments. They were already all in such high demand—everyone wanted to play with them! And they all had such strong and charismatic musical personalities—destined to start soon pursuing their own independent visions. I knew better than anyone else just how incredibly lucky I was to have even that short time with them.

“We would have done it ten years ago if it were up to me,” added Mehldau. ”Josh, Christian, and Brian are all my heroes. It’s like playing with The Avengers.” Blade noted how the time away paid dividends for the quartet, “This band is like a turntable where the stylus was lifted but the turntable is still spinning. We just had to drop the needle, and there we were with all of the information we had gathered. It has gotten deeper because of life itself, and because Joshua, Brad, and Christian plumb the depths every day.”

Listen to RoundAgain below: