Beyond

1	Courage (Asymmetric Aria) 7:34
2	Belonging (Lopsided Lullaby) 5:50
3	Neverend 4:27
4	Leap of Faith 9:06
5	Balance 9:05
6	Twilight... And Beyond 11:00
7	Stoic Revolutions 6:13
8	Suspended Emanations 6:22
9	Last Rites of Rock 'N' Roll 7:05
10	A Life? 6:51

Barnes & Noble

On BEYOND, saxophonist Joshua Redman reaffirms the gifts that make him a unique figure in contemporary improvising. Redman understands how to create elegant melodies within complex structures, how to construct drama in musical language, and how to make rhythm speak. With a centered tone and unerring time on the tenor, alto, and soprano horns, his sound is his own; BEYOND shows that you can almost say the same for his ensemble style and conception. Whereas on 1998's TIMELESS TALES (FOR CHANGING TIMES) Redman rearranged five songbook classics and five "new standards," on BEYOND the 30-year-old saxman concentrates on original composition. On more than 73 minutes of sustained improvising, he and a proactive world-class rhythm section (Aaron Goldberg, piano; Reuben Rogers, bass; Gregory Hutchinson, drums) impart freewheeling focus and fire to ten extended tunes, their intuitive interplay denoting a unit that works incessantly. Up-and-comer Goldberg is an empathic comper and creative soloist; note among other highlights his extended exchanges with the leader on "Belonging (Lopsided Lullaby)" and his cohesive opening solo on "A Life?". Rogers, who spent his previous four years with Nicholas Payton, is a groovemaster with a huge sound; check his extended introduction to the ominous, Shorteresque, medium-slow "Suspended Animation." Hutchinson, an alumnus of Roy Hargrove and Ray Brown, swings consistently and collaboratively with comprehensive command of trapset dynamics. Whether mining balladic emotion ("Twilight...And Beyond," "Balance," "Neverend") or stretching to catch the spirits ("Leap of Faith" and "Last Rites of Rock 'N' Roll"), Redman wears his heart on the sleeve with sophistication and clear intelligence. Ted Panken

All Music Guide

In his short career, Joshua Redman has been praised for his technical abilities and criticized for his lack of innovation -- not surprising responses to the work of a talented young artist. On Beyond, his seventh album which was recorded a few months after his 30th birthday, he attempts, as the title suggests, to try some new things. Employing an all new group consisting of pianist Aaron Goldberg, bass player Reuben Rogers, and drummer Gregory Hutchinson, he presents an album of original tunes to follow Timeless Tales (For Changing Times), an album of cover material. Eschewing the pat jazz formula of a head followed by improvisations, he adopts a more free-flowing structure for his compositions in which anyone can start and the tune can develop in an open-ended fashion. He also experiments with time signatures: "A Life?," the closing track, is in 5/4 time; "Stoic Revolutions" is in 6/4; "Belonging (Lopsided Lullaby)" is in 9/4; "Suspended Emanations" is in 10/4; and the lead-off track, "Courage (Asymmetric Aria)," is in 13/4. While no doubt hard to play, the tunes don' t sound all that complicated, perhaps because Redman's saxophone floats over the rhythm section, taking its time to make its statements. As the song titles imply, this is a contemplative album full of small, introspective pleasures, such as the exploratory "Leap of Faith," on which Redman and Mark Turner engage in a tenor conversation. It's not clear that the technical challenges Redman presents himself and his sidemen with ultimately force them to do anything new, but Beyond represents a gifted musician tinkering with his musical approach with often satisfying results. William Ruhlmann

Entertainment Weekly

Its freshness, honesty, and ferocity reconfirm his status as the saxist of his generation. Josef Woodard