CD ECM Records Dewey Redman Quartet - The Struggle Continues

1982

Dewey Redman - saxofon tenor
Charles Eubanks - pian
Mark Helias - contrabas
Ed Blackwell - tobe

“A solid, thoughtfully-programmed showcase for one of the most capable and encyclopedic of modern saxophone stylists. Mr. Redman has a warmly commanding sound and a broad idiomatic range, from ballad lyricism to bebop chord changes to modal playing to free-form. The news here is his growth as a composer and his ability to focus the energies of a band sparked by the great Ed Blackwell on drums.” So wrote the New York Times in 1983 of Dewey Redman’s “The Struggle Continues”, a disc that followed powerful Redman performances on ECM with Keith Jarrett’s ‘American Quartet’ and the Old And New Dreams band. Redman’s quartet repertoire, largely written by the leader, is capped by a tune from another great saxophonist: “Dewey Square” by Charlie Parker. Recorded 1982, and never before released on CD.

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Dewey was showing the way with this supremely hip meeting between bop, blues and freedom. Veering between the joyously abstract bop of the opener to the wonderfully raunchy, low-down R&B of ‘Turn over Baby’, the self-taught Texan’s throaty, avant-blues gregariousness receives top notch support. Ed Blackwell’s buoyant rhythms are loose and pithy at the same time. Meanwhile, ex-Motown pianist Charles Eubanks is an intelligent, underrated player… Another underrated player, Mark Helias, was a key member of Blackwell’s group and combines superbly, contributing a series of dextrous solos too. … A welcome reissue.
Tom Barlow, Jazzwise

The years have been good to this essentially blowing session, mainly because of Redman’s sheer, all-enveloping warmth and authority, and the richness of his imagination. It’s also more conventional than might be expected; he ventures a bit out of the paddock in a marvellously fresh solo on the uptempo Thren, and while Combinations is an example of the band playing free, there’s a sense of discipline and focus to their work. Otherwise, it’s clearly bop-derived, but not slavishly so, even on the Bird tune, Dewey Square. And with Blackwell stoking the fires, the band has a vibrant, take-no-prisoners air.
Ray Comiskey, Irish Times