ARTCAST SEASON 2, Episode 7: SITATUNGA. A new work from composer Mark Masters that tributes the wild and innovative spirit of legendary saxophonist Dewey Redman. Performed by the Mark Masters Jazz Ensemble featuring Kirsten Edkins, saxophone.
Mark Masters is a Los Angeles-based composer and conductor. He is the artistic director of the American Jazz Institute, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the enrichment and appreciation of jazz music. The organization presents concerts, makes recordings, offers workshops and scholarships to students, and also houses an archive of sheet music and recordings. They have collaborated with musicians such as Dewey Redman, Steve Kuhn, Lee Konitz and Andrew Cyrille.
Sitatunga is a composition by Mark Masters inspired by the innovative and exceptional spirit of saxophonist Dewey Redman. Mark worked with Dewey Redman on a series of concerts that featured Redman’s music arranged by Mark for large ensemble. He also heard him teach many master classes and workshops under the auspices of the American Jazz Institute. I first heard Sitatunga on a Mark Masters Ensemble CD, Farewell Walter Dewey Redman (Carpri 2008), that was recorded just after Dewey Redman passed away. Redman was scheduled to do this project and Oliver Lake stepped in to play saxophone on the recording. It was a recording of the large ensemble arrangements of Redman’s music that they had previously toured, with the addition of this one new composition by Mark Masters that tributed his much admired musical colleague.
When a musician plays, they either communicate through their instrument or they don’t. Age, color, and gender are all factors that have no bearing on the artistic statement. It so happens, however, that women in jazz are still a minority. When one experiences a saxophonist who plays like Kirsten Edkins, it’s exciting. It’s exciting because even though times are changing, a woman playing the saxophone is still not a common image on the bandstand. When a player as accomplished as Kirsten bites into a solo, the energy would be thrilling if she were any gender.
I first heard Dewey Redman, not performing, but speaking in an interview on NPR. He was telling a story about meeting John Coltrane for the first time. He explained that he had been working professionally and had a reputation as a musician. He said he had what he felt was an appropriate amount of ego. I appreciated very much what he meant by this. As an artist, it’s good to have humility, but one also has to guard against too much. You may have to really fight to make your creative statement. When Redman went to meet John Coltrane in his hotel room, he was so amazed by Coltrane’s complete lack of ego. He said that it forever changed him. For me, listening to Dewey Redman speak, I wanted to know his art. It started with the person and getting a feeling for how special, how open, how honest he was in his demeanor. I know that Mark Masters felt the same way about Dewey Redman.
A Sitatunga is a type of animal. It is a marsh buck…strong, elusive, unusual. Mark Masters had a dream after Dewey Redman passed that Dewey had turned into this magnificent animal and was running through the plains. We should all be so lucky to have such dreams. Maybe a few listens to Sitatunga will conjure them next time we sleep.
ARTCAST Season 2, Episode 7: Sitatunga will premiere on Sunday December 21 at 8 p.m. ET on youtube.com/brangwendance. Episodes are available for viewing any time after broadcast on Youtube.com/brangwendance or brangwendance.org
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