Joshua Redman was born in 1969 in California. His father, Dewey, is a well-known saxophonist as well. He took up the tenor saxophone at the age of 10 and he won several high school competitions. He finished first in his high school class and went to Harvard as a pre-med honors student majoring in social sciences. While at Harvard, he played with Harvard's jazz band and during his summers he would participate in jam sessions with musicians from the Berklee College of Music.
In 1991, Redman graduated Summa Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa and was accepted to Yale law school. But before attending, he spent a year in the music scene in New York. He didn't do this with plans of becoming a professional career musician, but rather to rekindle his creative flame. He practiced regularly and played regularly, often with his father. He also began devoting time to writing music. That year, he performed at the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Saxophone Competition and won. He signed a contract with Warner Bros. and released his self-titled debut record in 1993, which included Chirstian McBride, who has gone on to carve his own niche). Later that year, he released Wish, his second record, which featured Charlie Haden and Pat Metheny. In 1994, he put together his first touring band (McBride, pianist Brad Mehldau and drummer Brian Blade) and released his third record, MoodSwing, which featured all original recordings. He has recorded other CDs since then. While he started in the category of the neo-classicist, emphasizing the tradition, his music, since, has become eclectic, using elements of free jazz, funk, and rhythm and blues in his music. He has also added the soprano and alto saxophones to his repertoire. Playing- wise, he is technically assured and has a superb command of the higher register of the tenor sax.
