Joshua Redman
's sophomore effort found him leading a piano-less quartet that also included guitar great
Pat Metheny
and half of
Ornette Coleman
's trailblazing late-'50s/early-'60s quartet: acoustic bassist
Charlie Haden
and drummer
Billy Higgins
. With such company,
Redman
could have delivered a strong avant-garde or free jazz album;
Haden
and
Higgins
had played an important role in jazz's avant-garde because of their association with
Coleman
, and
Metheny
had himself joined forces with
on their thrilling
Song X
session of 1985. But
Wish
isn't avant-garde; instead, it's a mostly inside post-bop date that emphasizes the lyrical and the introspective. The musicians swing hard and fast on
Charlie Parker
's
"Moose the Mooche,"
but things become very reflective on pieces like
"The Undeserving Many"
"We Had a Sister."
One of the nice things about
is his ability to provide jazz interpretations of rock and R&B songs. While neo-conservatives ignore them and many NAC artists simply provide boring, predictable, note-for-note covers,
isn't afraid to dig into them and show their jazz potential. In
's hands,
Stevie Wonder
"Make Sure You're Sure"
becomes a haunting jazz-noir statement, while
Eric Clapton
's ballad
"Tears in Heaven"
is changed from moving pop/rock to moving pop-jazz. The latter, in fact, could be called "smooth jazz with substance." Some of bop's neo-conservatives disliked the fact that
was playing with two of
's former sidemen and a fusion icon like
, but then,
never claimed to be a purist. Although
isn't innovative, it's an appealing CD from an improviser who is willing to enter a variety of musical situations. ~ Alex Henderson