Joshua Redman Kicks Off ‘Where Are We’ Tour, Shares ‘Chicago Blues’ Live Video

Joshua Redman is embarking on an extensive Fall tour that will bring the acclaimed saxophonist across the United States and Europe behind the release of his new Blue Note debut where are we.

Redman has also released a live video of one of the album’s highlights “Chicago Blues”—a mash-up of Count Basie’s “Goin’ to Chicago” with Sufjan Stevens’ “Chicago”—featuring vocalist Gabrielle Cavassa, pianist Aaron Parks, bassist Joe Sanders, and drummer Brian Blade.

The band kicks off the tour tonight at the Kuumbwa Jazz Center in Santa Cruz, California and will be making upcoming appearances at SFJAZZ in San Francisco (September 21), 92NY in New York (September 27), ICA in Boston (September 29), and The Kennedy Center in Washington DC (October 3). Redman’s European tour begins on October 29 and will include concerts in Warsaw, Zurich, Barcelona, Berlin, Vienna, Athens, Milan, London, Paris, and Stockholm.

One of Redman’s most compelling albums to date, where are we is a spellbinding musical journey across the United States of America that is his first-ever album to feature a vocalist. Redman also invited four other friends to contribute to the portraits of their native cities: guitarists Kurt Rosenwinkel (“Streets of Philadelphia”) and Peter Bernstein (“Manhattan”), trumpeter Nicholas Payton (“Do You Know What It Means to Miss New Orleans?”), and Joel Ross (“Chicago Blues”).

“The surface concept of where are we is rather simple,” says Redman. “Each of the songs on the album is about, or at least makes reference to, a specific geographical location (city or state or region) in the United States… So, on one level, this is an album ‘about’ America—at once a celebration and a critique. But it is also, to varying degrees, a ballads album, a standards album, an album of romantic longing, an album of social reflection, an album of melodic invention, an album of improvisational adventure, an album of mashups, perhaps even a tribute album of sorts.”

Visit Joshua Redman’s official website for a full list of dates.