Where Are We

Bay area native saxophone wizard Joshua Redman makes his Blue Note debut alongside exciting emerging vocalist Gabrielle Cavassa on a concept album focused on American placemaking. Each song explores a different city/state via interpolations of melodies from classic songs from Sufjan Stevens, Count Basie, Bruce Springsteen, etc. Star-studded cast of pianist Aaron Parks, bassist Joe Sanders, and drummer Brian Blade join in the fun. All songs FCC Clean.

*1. “This Land is Your Land” ditty transitions into a powerful George Floyd narrative
2. Springsteen reimagination. Swingy with nice guitarwork
*3. Intriguing fusion of Sufjan Steven’s “Chicago” and Count Basie’s “Goin to Chicago.” Stand-out bluesy vocals
*4. Nice piano and bass intro leads into a spritely jam. Perfect interplay with really stellar solos. Instrumental.
5. Sentimental love ballad (Jimmy Webb cover)
6. A vocals-forward shoutout to Gabrielle Cavassa’s New Orleans home. Moody sax in the background with gentle piano twinkle
7. Lively instrumental jam with some standout guitar picking. Great stuff
8. Modern rendition of the classic San Francisco love letter. Nice pacing (esp. in the intro) to keep things interesting
9. Slow, moody with fluttery sax solos
10. 16 second intro to track 11
11. Really nice minimal sax/vocal number with the duo matching each other in cadence and range
*12. Measured and atmospheric reimagination of the John Coltrane original. Loose, starting slow and deliberate and building in intensity before slowly fading out. Instrumental
13. Strummy acoustic guitar intro.