Jazz great Joshua Redman returns to Korea with quartet after 12 years; concert set for next month

Harvard-educated prodigy makes long-awaited decision after 12 years, bringing legend and rising stars together

Saxophone great “Joshua Redman” (Joshua Redman), one of the leading figures in the global jazz scene, will return to Korea for the first time in 12 years with a quartet. Concert promoter PlusHitch officially announced Friday that Redman will perform a solo concert at 7:30 p.m. on the 23rd of next month at Yonsei University’s Centennial Memorial Concert Hall in Seoul.

The centerpiece of the concert will be a live performance of songs from “Words Fall Short”, the ambitious new album Redman released this year through the prestigious jazz label Blue Note.

The lineup will also include the formidable young musicians who took part in the album: pianist Paul Cornish, drummer Nazir Ebo and bassist Philip Norris. Their presence promises explosive synergy. It will be a rare chance to witness firsthand the “evolution of modern jazz” forged as a master works alongside a new generation.

1991 victory that ended a law career, the pinnacle of a 30-year musical journey

“Joshua Redman’s” career is unmatched in the jazz world. In 1991, after graduating summa cum laude from Harvard University and just before enrolling at Yale Law School, he unexpectedly won the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Competition, now known as the Herbie Hancock Competition, changing the course of his life.

He went on to build a distinctive and enduring artistic world through collaborations with contemporaries such as Brad Mehldau and Christian McBride, as well as legendary masters including Pat Metheny and Charlie Haden.

PlusHitch described him as “a master who has perfectly bridged the roots of tradition and the sensibilities of his time for more than 30 years,” adding that the concert will be a space for musical exchange that transcends generations.