Freddie Redd
Shades Of Redd

In the musical field, the good qualities of a composer do not always go hand in hand with the good qualities of a performer. Perhaps the most striking case to this day remains that of Giuseppe Verdi, who failed the piano exam and was promptly redeemed by the foresight of the commission, which nevertheless recognized in the young Peppino an excellent imagination to be exploited in a future as a composer. Then we know how it ended (...).

If there is a "Giuseppe Verdi" of Jazz, then it is Freddie Redd, a meteor of brilliant composition and moderate piano execution. He is not an Elmo Hope, just to make the first example of an excellent pianist and refined composer. Redd is not a great accompanist, his harmonic conception is quite imprecise and static, and consequently, his chords seem played randomly; and he is not an esthete of melody either, an element he seems to sacrifice with his piano in favor of the melodic taste of composing his themes. Precisely this: Redd puts his imagination into composition and relegates execution to a barely sufficient level.

"Shades of Redd" from 1960 is not, for better or worse, just Freddie Redd; but it is also Jackie McLean on alto sax, Tina Brooks on tenor sax, Paul Chambers on double bass, and Louis Hayes on drums. These people combined with Freddie Redd's compositional flair allow "Shades of Redd" to become a cornerstone of Hard Bop. Things are immediately made clear by the opening piece, "The Thespian," an irresistible track with a very particular theme, almost nostalgic in flavor, crafted with delicate textures by McLean and Brooks and the subdued sound of Chambers' double bass; a theme that will be cleverly exploited shortly after, in the transition from the slow nostalgic to the most unrestrained Hard Bop, where Tina and Jackie will deliver a sumptuous performance, while Redd's chords will appear "disconnected" from the rest of the piece. In the vein of "The Thespian," even "Blues, Blues, Blues" turns out to be a piece with an enticing theme developed this time in a delightful mid-tempo Jazz; just like the sequence that starts with "Shadows," a ballad suitable for the performing Redd, "Melanie," a lively piece with echoes of R&B, and then again "Swift," which recalls the old glories of Be-Bop in the theme; with a McLean nothing short of bubbly, followed by an exhilarating Tina. What a duo! Almost at the end of the game, if "Shadows" was the romantic-tasting ballad without sentimentality, "Just a Ballad for my Baby" is instead the ballad of delicate purity. The conclusion comes with "Olé," perhaps the piece that, thanks to its melody, manages to capture immediately more than any other piece on the album. Bringing it into Pop terminology, "Olé" is "Shades of Redd's" single, the hit; however, if "Redd" with this "Spanish-flavored" title intended to emulate indeed "Spanish-flavored" atmospheres that were popular at the time, he failed in his intent, as honestly, there is nothing of the Iberian musical tradition, although the final result is excellent. The CD concludes with two bonuses, two alternative versions: one of "Olé" and the other of "Melanie."

Freddie Redd has fallen into oblivion, we will come to terms with it, also because many other people have fallen into it unjustly, and I return to think of Elmo Hope. However, he left this little jewel, in its way epochal, and it has certainly been epochal within the Hard Bop movement. An epochal album also thanks to Jackie McLean, Tina Brooks, Paul Chambers, and Louis Hayes, who have clocked in. Legendary clock-in.