
Joshua Redman speaks through sound on Words Fall Short, and while he might not be using actual words this time, but he’s saying plenty.
After three decades of redefining modern jazz saxophone, Joshua Redman knows when to let the music do the talking. On Words Fall Short, his second album for Blue Note, Redman introduces a fresh quartet and delivers a stunning suite of originals shaped by wistfulness, strength where it’s needed, and quiet power when it’s not. At times it even feels like a reinvention of what’s been an incredible career.
The new album emerges from the momentum of Redman’s 2023 debut for the label, Where Are We, which featured vocalist Gabrielle Cavassa and marked his first foray into lyric-driven jazz. But Words Fall Short pivots hard - no vocals, no standards, no looking back. Instead, Redman turns inward, presenting a pandemic-era songbook written in solitude and brought to life by the energy of a working band.
That band - pianist Paul Cornish, bassist Philip Norris, and drummer Nazir Ebo - crackles with a mixture of urgency and seasoned grace. “My approach hasn’t changed,” Redman says. “Play with the best musicians I can find - who know how to listen, respond, and create together.” And boy does this trio deliver. Norris and Ebo lay down a foundation that’s both nimble and muscular, while Cornish’s keys dart between those moments. Together, they’ve found a sound that’s fluid and modern.
The album’s centerpiece, “Break The Spell,” builds slowly, with Redman’s tenor weaving through Cornish’s cascading chords before erupting into an exploratory run that’s both structured and searching. “All I See” is a hauntingly lyrical moment of introspection, while “Pulse And Page” rides a polyrhythmic current that hints at something altogether new. Guest appearances from saxophonist Melissa Aldana and trumpeter Skylar Tang add bursts of color and dialogue, and Cavassa returns, not to sing, but to deepen the texture of the ensemble’s interplay. But make no mistake, this is Redman’s show.
What makes Words Fall Short so compelling isn’t just the virtuosity, although there’s plenty of that. It’s the feeling that this is music built in real time, born of trust and late-night conversations between friends who understand where each other are coming from without saying it, except for with their instruments. The irony of the title isn’t lost on Redman. “Sure, the last album had a vocalist,” he says with a grin. “But this one speaks just as clearly.” On Words Fall Short, Joshua Redman proves that when the right players come together, language is optional and emotion is everything.