JAZZ REVIEW : Superlative Saxophonist

It was a measure of Joshua Redman’s near-overnight popularity that Catalina was as crowded, long before showtime Monday, as it has been on some recent Saturdays. The 24-year-old tenor-sax man, with only two years of professional experience, is being hailed with so many extravagant nicknames--the Golden Horn, the new jazz messiah--that one tends to be skeptical. But the praise is warranted.

Redman, who closes tonight, not only boasts a limitless flow of swinging concepts, but also conveys a startlingly mature sense of control.

Unlike so many tenor players of recent decades, he seems to owe little to John Coltrane, reflecting instead the Sonny Rollins-Lew Tabackin school. Redman can be at once emotional and witty. Moreover, he is backed by a group of musicians who leave not a millimeter for improvement: Pat Metheny, who plays every guitar in the plectrum spectrum (on Monday he used three), the phenomenal 20-year-old Christian McBride on bass and drummer Billy Higgins, who has arrived at Living Legend stature.

The interplay between Redman and Metheny was particularly empathetic. If Redman went into a series of chopped, anticipated notes, Metheny would syncopate right along with him. “We Had a Sister” was an imposing example of Metheny as composer. The exceptionally well-diversified set included Redman’s own tune “The Deserving Many” and Stevie Wonder’s “Make Sure You’re Sure.”

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If any piece stood out, it was one that opened with a lengthy Redman a cappella statement, repeated with variations that gradually increased, leading into quotes from Sonny Rollins’ “St. Thomas” and finally becoming a full-blown treatment of that composition. Redman, Christian and Metheny all surpassed themselves and Higgins contributed a well-paced workout.

The set began and ended in a blues groove, first a straight 12-bar excursion and finally a blues a la funk. Both offered reminders (as if any were needed) that these magisterial musicians know their roots, as well as the routes beyond them.