Mumbai, Maharashtra: — It was in March 2010, when the National Center for the Performing Arts (NCPA) and blueFROG launched the NCPA blueFROG Concert Series to bring quality live music from India and around the world to Indian audiences. The idea was to create a collaboration that will consistently strive to bring in musical acts of an international standard to the city. In March, we presented Jazz guitarist Mike Stern. The Joshua Redman Trio will be our second presentation.

Joshua Redman is one of the most acclaimed and charismatic jazz artists to have emerged in the 1990s. Fifteen years ago when Joshua Redman released “Wish”, his second album, the New York Times called him “one of the brightest young stars in mainstream jazz”. Today, he’s well on his way to walking, with his smooth fluid style, into the Jazz Hall of Fame.

The son of the legendary saxophonist Dewey Redman, Joshua Redman was exposed at an early age to a variety of music (jazz, classical, rock, soul, Indian, Indonesian, Middle-Eastern, African) and instruments (recorder, piano, guitar, gatham, gamelan). His formal music training began when his mother enrolled him in Indonesian and Indian music classes at the Center for World Music in San Diego. “Mridangam was the instrument I learnt,” says Joshua Redman. He began playing the clarinet at age nine before switching to what became his primary instrument, the tenor saxophone.

Redman is known as one of the most ‘cerebral’ jazz musicians on the scene today. So perhaps it is not a surprise that he is a Harvard graduate, who got admission into the Yale Law School, which he deferred for one year to make a career in Music. And thank god for that as two years later, his first, self-titled album that was released in the spring of 1993, earned him his first Grammy nomination. Since then, Redman has released five critically acclaimed albums, and has performed or recorded with some of the world’s greatest musicians, including Dave Brubeck, Chick Corea, Charlie Haden, Lionel Hampton, Quincy Jones, B.B. King, Christian McBride, Pat Metheny, Elvin Jones, Roy Hargrove, Jack DeJohnette, the Mingus Dynasty and Big Band.

“Jazz is a music of surprise; it’s a music of spontaneity. I think jazz musicians live – I know I do – for being surprised and not knowing what’s going to come next.” – Joshua Redman

Says Romit Chaterji, Senior advisor to the NCPA and a jazz enthusiast, “We have been trying to introduce new age music and new genres to the NCPA’s bouquet of arts. A collaboration with a progressive organisation like blueFROG, which has been consistently bringing in well-known and exciting artists, is indeed the way to go. The NCPA-Blue Frog Concert Series is a step towards that. Joshua Redman is well on his way to reaching super star status as an artiste. We are thrilled to present Joshua Redman to the city of Mumbai. We hope to continue this association and bring some of the best musicians to this city, reaffirming Mumbai’s position as India’s cultural capital.”

Speaking on the event, Mahesh Mathai partner blueFROG adds, “The sheer size and grandeur of the NCPA is a major trump card for us to be a part of this collaboration. Jazz is still in its infancy in India and what better place than the NCPA for it to reach a lot more people than it would if we were to only have the concert at blueFROG.”

Adds Dhruv Ghanekar, partner blueFROG and a well-known jazz musician in his own right, “Joshua Redman is a heavy voice in the world of Jazz, he is a brilliant improviser and composer. We are lucky to get a glimpse of a young rising star in Jazz such as Joshua. I caught him 2 years ago at the North Sea Jazz Fest. It was one of the most incredible trio’s I had ever seen. It is improvisation at its best. It’s hard to talk about it, one has to hear it! I think he’s going to blow a lot of people away! Be scared, very scared!” www.myspace.com/joshuaredmanofficial

SEPTEMBER 7th: NCPA – Nariman Point, Mumbai 400021, Call: Box Office: 9122 2282-4567, www.ncpamumbai.com

Tickets: 700, 500 and 300/-

SEPTEMBER 8th: blueFROG – D/2 Mathuradas Mill Compound, N.M. Joshi Marg, Lower Parel, Mumbai 400013, Call: 9122 6158-6158/6525-1716/6525-1718, www.bluefrog.co.in

Tickets: 1000, 700/-