May 17, 1931 – September 2, 2006

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Saxophonist Walter Dewey Redman was born on May 17, 1931, in Fort Worth, Texas.

He received his initial band training at I.M. Terrell High School, where he performed with fellow students Ornette Coleman, Prince Lasha, and Charles Moffett.

Redman played in Ornette Coleman’s groups and with Keith Jarrett, and then formed his own band, “Old and New Dreams,” with fellow Ornette alumni Don Cherry, Charlie Haden, and Ed Blackwell.

The product of a prominent musical family, he was the nephew of big band arranger Don Redman.

Redman transitioned to alto and eventually tenor saxophone and in 1957 graduated from the University of North Texas with a master’s degree in education.

Redman moved to San Francisco in late 1959, embarking on an early collaboration with Donald Rafael Garrett and memorably with Ornette Coleman from 1968 to 1972.

In 1971, he became a member of Keith Jarrett’s “American Quartet,” which ended in 1976 with the formation of Redman’s “Old and New Dreams” Quartet, featuring Don Cherry, Charlie Haden, and Ed Blackwell.

Dewey would continue to release LPs with the group for over a decade, ending in 1987.

Though first known as a free jazz proponent, Dewey Redman was equally at home performing in a variety of styles, working as a soloist outside of his own endeavors with artists including guitarist Pat Metheny and drummer Paul Motian.

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