October 16, 2026
Rialto Center for the Arts, Georgia State University
Atlanta, Georgia – USA
Joshua Redman, tenor and soprano saxophone; Paul Cornish, piano; Philip Norris, bass; Nazir Ebo, drums.
Matt T. Miller | 26 OCT 2026
Over a career spanning more than thirty years, Joshua Redman has captivated audiences with his dazzling skills on saxophone, his equally brilliant compositions, and the bands of gifted musicians he has employed to realize his musical vision. At the Rialto Center for the Arts at Georgia State University on Friday, October 16, 2026, Redman reaffirmed his standing as a great artist as he performed music from his most recent Blue Note Records release, Words Fall Short, with a quartet of daring musicians who share Redman’s love of the risks and rewards inherent in musical improvisation.
After an introduction by Amy Reid, the director of educational outreach at Georgia State University, and Dr. Bridgette Blake, first lady of GSU, Redman took the stage with his bandmates: pianist Paul Cornish, bassist Philip Norris, and drummer Nazir Ebo. As the applause subsided, Cornish opened the show with a series of arpeggiated piano chords before being joined by Redman’s vibratoless tenor, then Norris’ pizzicato bass doubling the melody for laying down chord tones, and finally Ebo’s understated but propulsive drumset beat. Over the course of six minutes, the band steadily raised the intensity of “A Message to Unsend,” a piece that explores territory ranging from a mournful tenor melody to moments of knotty rhythmic crosscurrents and ecstatic collective improvisation.
Redman’s unaccompanied tenor opened “So It Goes,” delivering a soliloquy that explored the entire range of the horn from honking, resonant lows to soaring altissimo notes, gurgling multiphonics to puckish phrases that drew laughter from the audience. A sense of showmanship has been a hallmark of Redman’s style since his earliest professional gigs, but one got the sense listening to him at the Rialto that he has continued to refine this element of his playing over the decades — paring away unnecessary elements — without diminishing the joyous immediacy and technical wizardry that have always been there to draw listeners in. Once the quartet joined him, the energy level never wavered as the band delivered solos that brimmed with intensity until Redman emerged alone once more to close out the piece with another dramatic extended cadenza.
After introducing the band, Redman remarked on the fact that the concert had been a long time coming. “We were supposed to be here in January, but I guess you guys had some harsh weather by your standards. I’m not sure Bostonians would agree with that,” the saxophonist — a California native who famously attended Harvard and was accepted at Yale Law School before deciding to focus fully on music instead — remarked, eliciting laughter from the audience.
The next tunes played by the quartet prominently featured the skills of bassist Philip Norris, a true virtuoso on his instrument. On “Borrowed Eyes,” another original from Words Fall Short, Norris took center stage following Redman’s statement of the tuneful, blues-inflected melody. On the title track from the album, “Words Fall Short,” Norris soloed at length, delivering technically impressive, elegant melodic lines for a number of minutes before the rest of the rhythm section entered, followed quickly by Redman’s soprano saxophone.
Following another original composition, “Amica,” which prominently featured pianist Paul Cornish in a dazzling unaccompanied solo, the band played one cover, a tribute to one of Redman’s all-time saxophone heroes, Sonny Rollins.
“I’m trying to find all the ways to express our honor and admiration for this giant, this colossus of the saxophone and of jazz, the great Mr. Sonny Rollins,” Redman explained. “He left us this past May at the ripe, young age of 95. I think there were few lives in jazz as long and as impactful and as profound as Sonny Rollins’.”
Launching into a swinging version of Rollins’ “Grand Street,” Redman conjured the brash, brilliant sound of his early records in the mid-1990s with a solo that soared into the altissimo range before Cornish took over on piano with a more rhythmically dense, but still swinging statement. Norris and drummer Nazir Ebo delivered memorable solos of their own before the leader performed the riff-like melody out with perfect blend of brashness and reverence.
Redman ended the set with a tune, “Ions,” that he wrote in tribute to his daughter. Inspired by her work in AP Chemistry, Redman wrote the kinetic and at times frenetic piece for his soprano saxophone. The composition was a perfect vehicle for Cornish’s bracing, mathematical piano lines. Throughout the performance, the pianist traded solo sections with Redman while Norris and Ebo maintained a surging momentum that never faltered. As the final notes echoed in the theater, the audience erupted in applause that continued as the band took their bows and exited. After a minute or two, the undiminished ovation drew the band back on stage for a much-appreciated encore. ■
EXTERNAL LINKS:
- Joshua Redman: joshuaredman.com
- Rialto Center for the Arts: rialto.gsu.edu
Read more by Matt Miller.
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