Jubilee festival Jazzkaar will bring two very special American jazz ensembles to Estonia – jazz drummer Mark Guiliana with his band Beat Music and tenor saxophonist Joshua Redman’s trio.
Mark Guiliana is one of the world’s most charismatic and influential modern day drummers, who also collaborated on David Bowie’s last album “Blackstar”, that won four Grammy Awards. Imagine the angular drum beats of computer games, add the fluidity of jazz drumming and remarkable technical skills, and that’s how you get the unique rhythmic language of Mark Guiliana.
Mark Guiliana’s Beat Music plays with strong, bold rhythmics and movie-like atmospheres, acoustic and electronic tones. In addition to David Bowie, Mark Guiliana has worked together with pianist Brad Mehldau, jazz legend John Scofield, neo-soul singer Meshell Ndegeocello, reggae/hip-hop artist Matisyahu, jazz vocalist Gretchen Parlato and bassist Avishai Cohen. In the line-up of Cohen’s trio, Guiliana has performed at Jazzkaar in 2005 and 2008. Mark Guiliana’s Beat Music will present fresh rhythms to the fans of electronica and jazz at Vaba Lava on April 26.
Kristjan Randalu, one of Estonia’s most appreciated pianists, has performed together with Mark Guiliana and says, that for him the most binding part of Guiliana’s performance are the concreteness and machine-like accuracy combined with ultimate versatility. “When I played in Dhafer Youssef quartet, Mark and I toured together many times. His playing style has obvious influences from electronic music. Due to this, his approach to the drum set in solos is often highly minimalistic, using maybe only bass and solo drums. You won’t hear standard jazz and swing from this upcoming concert, rather currently relevant music, that won’t leave anyone cold,” says Randalu.
For the first time, American tenor saxophonist Joshua Redman will perform in Estonia. His unique saxophone tone and incredible virtuoso together with distinctive style have already made him a legend. Joshua Redman has won numerous awards and achieved high rankings in the leaderboards of reputable jazz publications like DownBeat, Jazz Times, The Village Voice and Rolling Stones. He has also been nominated for the Grammy Awards many times.
Redman’s unique energy and saxophone tone have brought the musician together with jazz stars like Dave Brubeck, Chick Corea, Bill Frisell, Herbie Hancock, Quincy Jones, Stevie Wonder and The Bad Plus. Released last year, his most recent album “Still Dreaming” binds together the sounds of folk, gospel and blues, and is dedicated to the memory of his dad, saxophone player Dewey Redman. Joshua Redman, together with Reuben Rogers on double bass and Gregory Hutchinson on drums, will perform at festival Jazzkaar, Vaba Lava venue on April 25, 2019.