What: James Farm Band (including Joshua Redman)
When: June 30th @ 7PM
Where: Enwave Theatre at Harbourfront, $40 at the door or order online at Ticketmaster
More Information: Check out the James Farm myspace page to hear some great music samples.

Joshua Redman is one of the best jazz saxophonists and composers in the jazz scene today, so it was a great honour to interview him for BlogUT last week; he’ll be coming to Toronto on June 30th with his new collaborative project, James Farm. With clear influences ranging from his father, Dewey Redman, to saxophonist Sonny Rollins, Joshua Redman has developed his own unique style. It is a style that is very inventive and innovative, which so often makes you want to tap your feet, dance, and listen very closely. His albums have only gotten better and better. He is a very cerebral musician, articulate both in his performance and in his discussion of music, with a great sense of humour. Luckily for the music world, after completing his undergraduate degree at Harvard University in Social Studies, he turned down his offer at Yale Law School to pursue music, instead, in the early 1990s.

Joshua Redman is an amazing musician but also sincerely humble, thoughtful, and self-deprecating (“I have this book of études that are really kicking my ass, actually.”), which was clear throughout the interview and through the wonderful material he has compiled on his website talking about music. “To me, jazz has a built in modernity and relevance through improvisation”, he said, which is perhaps why even his recent rendition of “Surrey with a Fringe on Top”, on his 2007 album Back East, is my favourite rendition of the piece. On a personal note, I’ve been a fan and audience member since age 5.

Of his music, he says, “My goal as a jazz musician has been always to just try to play as honestly and expressively and creatively as I can: that’s what jazz is about to me. I’ve always believed that if you do that then your music will reach people, on an intellectual, and more importantly, an emotional level.” Read on to hear Mr Redman’s many other interesting insights.

Alex: How did you decide to play the saxophone?
Joshua Redman: It was just always the instrument that spoke to me. I was always intrigued by and loved the sound of it. I saw a connection to it, I guess, hearing great saxophonists like John Coltrane, Sonny Rollins, my father Dewey Redman, and Dexter Gordon. All these saxophonists had incredible sound. It was the depth of feeling the instrument can produce, the emotional range, the power of the instrument, and the poignancy of the sound. Of course, you don’t think in those terms when you’re 10 years old. Maybe I just thought it was cool. I played the clarinet for a couple of years before I started playing the saxophone and was interested in the clarinet but I always wanted to play the saxophone. Besides, the clarinet is too hard. (more…)

What: Alex Pangman & Her Alleycats, Free Concert
When: Friday, June 25th @ 5PM
Where: Nathan Phillips Square, Afterworks Series, TD Canada Trust Toronto Jazz Festival

On Monday, BlogUT caught up with Canadian jazz singer and composer, Alex Pangman, for a telephone interview, before her performance kicks off the Toronto Jazz Festival at Nathan Phillips Square on June 25th at 5PM with a free concert. Sometimes referred to as “Canada’s Sweetheart of Swing”, Ms Pangman specializes in standards from the 1920s up until about the mid 1940s, and refers to herself as an “anachronism in her time”. As the Toronto Star once wrote, “It’s time-travel magic whenever Alex Pangman breathes into a microphone and evokes the great jazz femmes of the 1920s, 30s and 40s.” I first saw Ms Pangman at the Old Mill in November 2009, picked up her Live in Montreal album, listened to it on loop for weeks, and went back for more at her Reservoir Lounge gig last week. Ms Pangman also plays some country music but, she says, “Jazz is where my heart lies”. In addition to catching her show at the Jazz Festival, you can catch Ms Pangman at the Reservoir Lounge on the first Tuesday of every month.

BlogUT: When is your next album coming out and what can we expect from it?
Alex Pangman: I have a new album coming out in the fall, which I just finished recording, with my band, the Alleycats. It’s in the can, as they say. It’s called “33” and we’ll be releasing it to iTunes. The “in hand version” will be as a 33rpm, and it’s all songs from 1933. It will be my first record since the double lung transplant.

BlogUT: How has having a double lung transplant affected your career and life?
Alex Pangman: Being so sick for so long, it sort of took me out of usefulness for quite a few years. Things being rocky enough that I had to have a transplant, it’s as if the hours on the table gave me back not only my life, as in the ability to breathe, but also gave me back my art. As a singer with lung disease, I could see my health stolen from me in little increments. It’s pretty awesome now to be able to stand in front of a microphone and belt it out without having to cough or wheeze. I would encourage everyone to sign a consent form to become an organ donor as you can really help change people’s lives for the better.

BlogUT: What songs will be on your new album?
Alex Pangman: We play “100 Years from Today” and “I Found a New Baby”. We also have some guest vocalists: Denzal Sinclaire sings a duet with me on “You’ve Brought a New Kind of Love to Me”.

BlogUT: How did you get interested in jazz and in music from the 1920s-40s?
Alex Pangman: I was disenchanted with the music of my generation and looking for some sort of inspiration. I found some old records in my mid-teens with music from that time which was such a pleasant discovery. I was drawn to an era of music where melody and substance were very important; those were really lacking in my generation. (more…)