Redman is jazz festival headliner Weekend performances slated in Stonington

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Saxophone player Dewey Redman has been playing jazz for more than 50 years with jazz greats such as Ornette Coleman and Keith Jarrett. His style is smoothly harmonic, and ranges from pure sound to truncated rhythms. He has been a hot performer in the New York jazz scene since the 1960s, but has also traveled around the world with his own band. In June, he celebrated his 70th birthday with a party at Birdland, the New York City jazz club. This week, Redman is the headliner for the North Atlantic Jazz Festival at the Stonington Opera House. With musicians Matt Wilson, David Tronzo and Deer Isle’s own Bob Nieske, Redman and his quartet will inaugurate the first jazz festival in the newly renovated performing space. In a phone conversation from his home in Brooklyn, N.Y., Redman spoke about the Maine gig. He also traced his journey from being a 5th-grade school teacher to becoming a renowned jazz musician, and about his son, Joshua Redman, who, like his father, intended to go into another career – in Joshua’s case, it was law – but ended up becoming the more famous of the two jazz sax players.

Give me a thumbnail sketch of your early days in Texas.

I’ve always been interested in music. I got a clarinet when I was around 13 years old. When I got to high school, I played in the concert band and marching band. I graduated to saxophone when I went to college. I studied industrial arts and minored in music. Then I was inducted in the United States Army and worked for the government for two years in El Paso. When I got out, I stayed in El Paso and started teaching as a band director in a small town near Austin. In the summer, I got my master’s degree in industrial education. On the weekends, I would go to Austin to play with mostly blues bands. A lot of guys said, “Hey, you can play, you ought to go big time. I thought about it for a couple of years and decided to go to New York, spend five years and get it out of my system. This coming October, I will have been in New York 34 years.

Did you go directly to New York?

No, I went to San Francisco for two weeks, and stayed for seven years. It was a great place to be in the ’60s. There were the flower children and protests against the Vietnam War. There were smoke-ins and love-ins. I liked the place. They had a great jazz community. But it was also the beginning of the rock era, which was great but I was not really into that. I used to see Janis Joplin walking down the streets in Haight-Ashbury. I woke up one day and realized I still hadn’t been to New York. That was 1967.

How did you get started in the N.Y. jazz scene?

I had a friend, Ornette Coleman. We were from the same place, Fort Worth. I knew him in high school because at that time, you know, all the black kids had to go to the same high school. He was playing then, and I was just a kid with a clarinet. But in New York, he invited me over to his loft in SoHo and we struck up our old friendship and he asked me to bring my horn over and the next thing I knew I was playing with Ornette Coleman, who at that time was one of the biggest names in jazz – and a controversial one because he played “free music” or avant-garde, whatever you want to call it. After Ornette, I started playing with Keith Jarrett, Charlie Hayden and the Liberation Orchestra, Pat Metheny and many others. And I always had my own group, too.

It must have been great to have your 70th birthday party at Birdland in June.

Yeah, it was great. There were a lot of old friends and musicians and it was a great time. My actual birthday is May 17 and I was doing a tour in Europe, as I do every year. In Austria, they had a big birthday party for me. They had an oompah band and flowers and a cake. It was just great.

Do you find European audiences are different from American audiences?

Absolutely. European audiences are more appreciative especially of art. I am treated like an artist in Europe. Except for New York, Chicago, New Orleans, there’s not an appreciation for America’s only art form. Which is a drag. It’s really tragic. In Europe and in America, I’m known as Joshua Redman’s father. But, as a matter of fact, I can still play.

Have you ever thought about living in Europe?

Yes, I thought about it. But I got stuck in New York. When I was in San Francisco, I used to hear bands like Miles Davis and Thelonius Monk. And then when I came to New York, I heard the same guys playing the same tunes, but the music was completely different. Here’s Miles playing the same tunes with the same bands but the music was different. When you’re in New York, you have to be at your best because there are so many other musicians here.

Do you play better in New York?

I have to. I mean, it’s internal pressure because you know when you’re playing in New York, there’s maybe 15 guys in the audience who can play better than you. Maybe. That’s one of the reasons I never moved to Europe. I fell in love with New York. I hate it and I love it.

What’s it like for you that your son, Joshua Redman, has been so successful?

I’m very proud of him. He’s a very unusual young man. Joshua graduated from Harvard, summa cum laude. He graduated from Berkeley High School No. 1 in his class and then got a scholarship to Harvard. When I would go out there from time to time I would see him. When he graduated, he came with me to Europe.

So you helped him become Joshua Redman?

Yes, I think so. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. I tried to teach him how to do the right things, but he didn’t listen to me. That’s sort of a joke, but now he’s rich and famous. He’s one of the few jazz musicians who’s sold over a million CDs. He’s well-spoken, he’s an intelligent young man, and he can play. I’m better. But he’s a very good player.

Was your father a musician?

No, but my uncle was. I had an uncle named Don Redman, who was a popular bandleader and vocalist and arranger in the ’20s and ’30s. I can’t prove he was my uncle. He died before I came to New York. When I saw a picture of him, he looked just like my father. But I never got a chance to ask my father.

How often do you perform these days?

A year ago, I decided to go into semiretirement. It’s not a big thrill like it used to be for me. Plus I’ve had a bout with prostate cancer. Last year, I organized the first annual Jazz Prostate Cancer Research Benefit at the Knitting Factory in New York. We were able to raise a little more than $4,000, which is not Michael Milken money but we turned it over to the American Cancer Society. I’m planning the second annual concert this fall.

Have you changed as a musician over the years?

Sure. Every artist changes. If you’re creative, you change. Hopefully, you change for the better. But I remember when John Coltrane changed from one style to avant-garde spiritual. And it upset a lot of guys in the music world. They said: “Hey, man, what’s going on with Coltrane?” Even Miles changed. It’s inherent in the artistic process.

What’s remained the same about your music?

The one thing that’s still the same about my music is the sound. One day a long, long time ago, I figured out that everybody I like, whether they play the drums, whether they sing or play trumpet, no matter what their gender, no matter what their sign, or where they were born or what color they were – everybody I liked had one thing in common. They had a good sound. That’s the basis of my music. Whatever I play, I try to play it with good sound. That’s No. 1 with me and that has remained constant.

What do you think about Maine?

Well, I’m from Texas. That’s (a) long way from Maine. But I’ve been living in New York for 33 years. I know that Maine is a very beautiful state. They have the best lobsters and crabs around. I’m looking forward to that. It gets cold in the winter. And you never hear bad things about Maine. So I am very happy to be coming to Maine.

In Maine, you’ll be playing for a primarily white audience. How do you feel about that?

I do that all the time because I go to Europe a lot. Predominantly, I play for a white audience. But this music is international music. So it really doesn’t make any difference.

Is there anything else you want people to know about your trip to Maine, or your life or your music?

I’m still around. I’m really looking forward to Maine and I hope the people know which Redman is coming.

Dewey Redman’s Quartet will perform at the North Atlantic Jazz Festival Friday and Saturday at the Stonington Opera House. For information, call 367-2788.