Freddie Redd - Under Paris Skies (1971)

Tracklist

01. Diane I Love You
02. Bleeker Street Blues
03. To Bud Whith Love
04. This Heart is Mine
05. You
06. My God is Love



Pianist and composer Freddie Redd passed away on March 17, 2021, in New York, NY, the city where he was born nearly 93 years ago. His departure adds to the long list of immensely talented artists who illuminated the jazz scene since the post-World War II era, and whose genius sometimes existed on the fringes of American society. Paradoxically, this society facilitated the emergence of numerous artists but often compelled them onto complex paths, from the extreme margins (Giuseppi Logan, Henry Grimes...) to periods of absence and wandering to preserve the freedom essential to artistic creation—such was the case for Freddie Redd, a globe-trotter of the world and of America. Freddie Redd is one of the most direct heirs to the style of Bud Powell (1924-1966), his senior by four years (cf. "I'll Keep Loving You," a composition by Bud Powell performed on Live at the Studio Grill, 1988). Freddie Redd devoted himself to the piano relatively late. He possesses the intensity of pianists of his time in his expression, with less virtuosity than Bud Powell, but he managed to develop a highly personal, powerful style, grounded in genuine compositional qualities—a talent at the core of his renown. He was the composer of the music combining theatrical performance and live music for the play "The Connection," which he performed on stage with Jackie McLean. His somewhat unfamiliar body of work deserves to be (re)discovered. As we will continue to emphasize, jazz is a music of infinite richness, populated by countless creators because it was born in an era of recording and international stage presence, at the height of a planetary democratic approach. While the 21st century and the COVID years represent a regression in freedoms and consequently in creation on an abyssal scale, the creative heritage of the 20th century, particularly jazz, is an artistic treasure without equal. It is up to us to honor artists like Freddie Redd who have brought so much beauty to the world with such generosity, and to convey the message that preserves all these subversive and democratic values, if we truly wish to delve into them (knowing who are the women and men behind the creation) rather than consuming them without curiosity.

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