They say music influences sometimes skips a generation. Some kids can’t stand music of their parent’s era (at one time or another) but don’t tell that to NYC area drummer Jason T. Reddish. Turns out back in the late 1960s / 1970s, Jason’s Dad Bill Reddish headed up the South Florida-based band Reddish Fetish. Half a century later, on his own debut as a band leader, Jason has revitalized his Dad’s musical influences, diving deep into the music that inspired another generation.

Credited to The Reddish Fetish With The Jersey City All Stars, on the 11-track 70 minute Llegue, the younger Reddish revives a wide range of classic jazz instrumentals penned by late, great jazz luminaries such as Alice Coltrane, John Coltrane, Charlie Parker, Wayne Shorter and others. The appropriately titled Llegue (meaning ‘arrived’ in Spanish) is not only a fine tribute to the musical influences of the elder Reddish but also to a quite distinctive era in American jazz lore.

Aside from the classic jazz compositions covered here, there is also an album closing original called “Shango Can Fly”, penned by Jason. Among the classics here is a fascinating cover “All The Things You Are”, penned by Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II. The track is an excellent showcase for Jason and his crack band, topped off by a smoking electric guitar solo by Jason Green. There’s a reason that song is taught in music schools to endless generations of jazz students.

Supporting Jason’s trans-generational jazz excursion are a number of top players, including a full-on horn section as well as J Hacha De Zola, singing on the album’s two vocal numbers. Another highlight is a quite smooth cover of “Greensleeves”, jazzified with the name “5 Sleeves” and clocking in over eight minutes.

Thanks to his father, Jason was exposed to the best jazz and started on drums at age eight. Back then in both jazz and later in jazz-rock it was anything goes and the sense of excitement of that timeless era in music history translates well on Jason Reddish’s Llegue.

 

RMR speaks to Jason Reddish

RMR: Tell us something else about your Dad, Bill Reddish. So he led the original Reddish Fetish back in the late 1960s and early ‘70s too? I read you grew up in South Florida? I live in Pompano Beach today. Did you get to see your Dad’s band and how else did he influence you? Is he still alive or is he passed? What was it like growing up in South Florida and where do you live and work these days? Also your name Reddish is quite unique, what are the origins of the Reddish name?

Jason T. Reddish: My Dad was from Boston, originally, his accent was deep New England as mine is N.Y. He attended Georgetown at the same time as another young tenor sax player, Bill Clinton. One of my Dad’s old piano players mentioned to me that Clinton would follow him around like a puppy dog, for sax lessons but I was never able to verify the story. Maybe one day I will get to speak to President Clinton to ask him.

I do know he played Bohemian Caverns and the DC circuit during his college years. My grandmother moved to the South Florida area and he followed. The scene in South Florida around that time was perfect for musical exploration, and a hub for so many worldly influences blending together, to create what was yet to come.

My mom, who is a Brooklyn native, hitchhiked to San Francisco from N.Y. in the later 1960s. She ended up moving back East, to the South Florida area, and actually picked up my dad hitchhiking in Florida from San Fran when she arrived in the state. I assume this was apparently a good mode of transportation in those days. (LOL). They parted ways after the ride and didn’t think much of it.

Months later, my mom ended up meeting my dad on the corner of A1A and Oakland Park Blvd and they started dating. She had already seen him playing in the local clubs. They were dating for a while before they realized they met hitchhiking months earlier, which I always find humorous.

I moved back and forth between Brooklyn and Florida a lot before starting Kindergarten in Brooklyn N.Y. and since my Aunt and Grandmother lived in Fort Lauderdale, I was down there a lot. I remember as a young teenager hanging at the “Musicians Exchange” and shopping at Peaches for records.

My dad was on the road and back and forth from Florida to NYC in my very young years. He passed in 1982 when I was 12, and at the time he turned me on to a lot of music that I didn’t understand until later on. I feel like he knew his time was short and he had to crash course me on the music before he transitioned to the higher realm.

Unfortunately his playing is a faint memory. I didn’t really get to see him perform but have heard enough stories from so many people that knew him to realize what a special person he was.

My dad drove a cab in NYC to make ends meet. There’s a pretty cool story about my dad picking up Jaco (Pastorius) in a cab in NYC by chance, before my dad passed, and them reconnecting in NY. I saw it online on a friends of Jaco thread. Two titans of music broke in a cab… with one of them driving, sad and beautiful in the same breath. I may be able to find it, and send it to you. It’s more lore at this point.

You are right about the name Reddish, not as common as one would think. I believe it’s of English, Irish decent. And Pompano man, it’s amazing how much that has grown. The entire area is almost unrecognizable. I am still a diehard Dolphins fan, which hasn’t been easy.

I am an entrepreneur living in Watchung, N.J. I am the CEO of a private equity firm that helps small businesses from credit card processing to working capital… we were actually featured on Shark Tank which was a blast. I do lots of TV and radio in the tri state more as a financial expert. It’s my 2 separate worlds. (LOL)

 

RMR: Tell us about the tracks on Llegue. Were these tracks first covered by the original Reddish Fetish? What’s your connection to these classic tracks and was it difficult to choose just a handful of tracks from that bygone era and will there be a Volume 2?

Jason T. Reddish: I still study drums with Master Michael Carvin who really helped me put this together. The tracks were all selected by what I heard in my house at a young age and what truly made me fall in love with jazz. Mr. Carvin kept asking me what songs remind me of family and what I love. The track list is laid out strategically with a “Journey” into it. Its why once you’re in the mind set of “Satchidananda” you go into “All The Things You Are”… the most traditional it can get. The beginning.

The original Reddish Fetish was a lot more original composition and Avant Garde. I don’t think my record would sound like them at all. My Dad’s music was all more “free jazz” and exploration. If he wasn’t listening to Bach he had Archie Shepp or Roland Kirk on. I would like to believe that the original Reddish Fetish would have sounded more like Coltrane’s ‘Interstellar Space’ but it’s lost to time.

I would love to go down that rabbit hole in a Volume 2 and there is a lot more to come. The Reddish Fetish “Fire Music” LOL. It’s the reason why the record ends with “Shango Can Fly”.

 

RMR: I mentioned that some young kids don't care for the music of their parents era but you seem to have picked right up on it and to a large extent have honored it. That’s a first… I remember my parents playing Lps by Tony Bennett, Frank Sinatra and the Broadway classics of the early 1960s but you couldn’t tear me away from my Beatles and 4 Seasons singles. Is honoring your parents era a first?

Jason T. Reddish: I think we all want to honor our parents in some way and have our kids honor us. I also think as our brains are developing early on, the things we hear and see stick with us whether we like them or not. They are memories. Good and bad, but tattooed to our subconscious. It’s when we are sponges soaking it all in.

I have an early memory my dad trying to get my friends and I to listen to Coltrane’s “A Love Supreme” in 1982. We were all music heads and around 11 to 13 years old. We were listening to “The Song Remains The Same” by Led Zeppelin in my living room in Canarsie, Brooklyn. He put the Coltrane record right over it on the turntable and said LISTEN TO THIS! At the time it sounded like noise. We looked at each other in confusion. As an adult with more mature ears, I got it. It’s a masterpiece and one of my favorite pieces of music ever written and played. It’s hard to enjoy the taste of a good Scotch until you are ready for it.

My grandfather was a huge Sinatra fan, as am I, and when you really get into jazz, or any form of music, you realize it’s all related in some way. Sinatra was a brilliant jazz singer and actually did a Monk tune. A lot of those Broadway tunes were covered by jazz artists… the Real Book is full of them. The Beatles covered everything from American Blues in the beginning to classical music and Indian Raga’s. The White Album has it all… even the stuff your parents liked and vice versa. Looks like you and your parents had very good taste! 

 

RMR: Most of these tracks come from another generation of jazz artists and their fans. How did you choose these classics from the Coltrane’s, Wayne Shorter, Charlie Parker and more? You must have gone back in time! There are two more mainstream covers of “All The Things You Are” and also a cover of “Greensleeves” that you call “5 Sleeves”. Why the name change and what was your approach on “All The Things You Are” and also “5 Sleeves”?

Jason T. Reddish: I always think of icons like Bird, Coltrane, Monk, Wayne etc. as American Classical Artists. Like we still honor and listen to music from the Baroque and Classical period, Bach, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven etc. 300-400 years later. 300-400 years from now we will be listening to or reinterpreting Charlie Parker… I mean “Greensleeves” was written in the mid 1500’s, and it’s on my record. These artists will be the American Classical Artists for centuries to come. That’s their true genius and contribution to humanity.

I always thought of “All The Things You Are” as a truly timeless melody, and if you get the chance, read the lyrics, they are just so beautiful. I like it so much that I stretched out the A Parts. Lots of versions shed through the tune, which is also cool, but I wanted to savor it and have the space to really be melodic. Like most of this record, I laid back on the drums. I wanted a melodically beautiful record, not necessarily a “drum” record. Maybe Vol 2. I can let my hair down a little bit. “5 Sleeves” is Greensleeves in 5/4 time (thus “5” Sleeves - LOL)

 

RMR: Tell us about the band on Llegue. There are some great players including pianist Roy Suter and guitarist Jason Green. What’s the band chemistry like with those players and, all the fine players including a great horn section. Do you do live concerts in the NYC tri-state area?

Jason T. Reddish: The NYC music scene has suffered and is still regaining its original strength from COVID, but it’s as resilient as downtown after 9/11. It will just take time. We plan on playing out over the summer.

The talent pool is still really limitless. You have a pallet with all the colors you can imagine, to choose from. This was my dream team and I was truly fortunate enough to have the right chemistry on these recordings. That’s always a ‘yet to be determined’. When it’s meant to happen, it does. A lot of pieces fell into place effortlessly which always gave me the hope that things would turn out right.

Roy Suter (keyboards) has been around and has played with some of the greats. He was in Fuse Patrol, a fusion band we played in together for years before the pandemic, and I had to have him on this record. I am so glad he agreed to do it since we already had the chemistry and time together prior to. He was a great help on the arrangements and played his ass off as always.

Jason Green (guitar) is a family friend, he really is like family, and we have crossed paths musically. He’s a blue player, but you can hear that Wes Montgomery influence which is so cool. Besides, it’s all the blues in the end. I was grateful to him for helping me get this record done. A truly great musician and band leader himself… and all around great guy.

Jay Green brought in Ben Golder-Novick on sax which was a God send. Ben plays in the “Hot Sardines” and added so much to our sound. His cheerful and happy solos brought so much joy to the sessions. His clarinet was such a plus to add another color to the pallet.

J Hacha (vocals) I play drums for J in his live act and met the trumpet player Indofunk Satish through J.

Both brilliant players and people. J Hacha’s added so much to music through his music and art. A true artist. If you haven’t heard his music, I can’t recommend it enough.

Indo was clutch in adding way more than just a trumpet. He gave us our voice. I think it’s how you can recognize this band. His coloring and rhythmic sense really helped and brought the arrangements to life.

Yogui on congas; I play in Regina Bonelli’s band and met Yogui though Regina. They are lifelong friends. We had a spiritual connection from the get.

Yogui named the record. I was struggling with what to call it and at the very end of track 1, “Journey Into Satchidananda” (written by Alice Coltrane) you can hear Yogui say “Llegue” Listen real close. I knew that was the name as soon as he said it. The universe provides.

Sean David Cunningham (violin) is a fixture in the Jersey City scene. I have played with him in several live projects and always know it’s going to be a good gig if he’s on it. We are both lovers of classical music; I am a struggling classical pianist. His musicality is always dead on and he helped me complete the final track. I needed him on this record and it wasn’t an option. Sean plays electric violins as well that can sometimes sound close to Indofunk’s trumpets or synths. Our voice, almost like a Bitches Brew vibe. Very cool.

Ian Kenselaar (double bass) So Corey Zack, Owner of Cocoon Studios is a dear friend and muse of mine, and always a member of the band. I have recorded several records at his studio and always told him I want to do a jazz record as a band leader. He always told me, “Ready when you are”. I always told him to start studying the techniques of Rudy Van Gelder, whose studio is about 30 minutes away from Corey’s. All the greatest jazz records were made there.

So… finally in the summer of 2024 we did it. I couldn’t have done this without his direction and visions for the recordings. He really is my George Martin. I told him that I need an upright bass player on the whole record and wanted to keep it as live and organic as possible. I stressed how important this was to me.

He recommended Ian, and I trusted him like I always do, to me, the chemistry with the bass player is one of the most important aspects of getting the right feel and end result. Especially with very limited rehearsal, the glue needs to be right.

We warmed up and got to “Moanin” and looked at each other and smiled. His deep walk over my shuffle made us both realize everything was going to be all right. All within about an hour of meeting for the first time. I look forward to working with him again and hopefully playing out live.

 

RMR: Tell us about your album-closing original “Shango Can Fly”. It almost sounds avant-garde. What inspired that track and also tell us about the track with singer J Hacha De Zola, which is one of the only two vocal tracks on the all instrumental album.

Jason T. Reddish: The tune was originally just called “Shango”, as I wanted to pay my respect. When Sean came in to play on it he was in the middle of a project in Harlem based on the American Folktale “The People Can Fly”. He added parts of that over Shango and it morphed into “Shango Can Fly”. It’s also a track leading into what I imagine the original Reddish Fetish to sound like.

The pattern is a 5 stroke roll with the 5^th note on the bass drum, a great phrase used by jazz drummers and made to sound more African on this track. I wanted it to be hypnotic and something you could hear a drum circle doing for days on end. You can hear the thunder and lightning of Shango’s arrival and his mercy as he observes.

I have played with J Hacha, live, on his last three records, I am not the drummer on the recordings.

Icaro Nouveau 2019

East Of Eden 2021

Without a Tribe 2023

Such beautifully dark, diverse, melodic, angelic material. I love it all. So original. I still listen to it a lot.

I knew he was teetering on or on the border of being a jazz singer at times. Like you mentioned Sinatra earlier. He was more like a Latin Sinatra-ish Jim Morrison, with a jazz influence, and always a great band.

I really wanted to do “Lush Life” since it’s been in my head ever since childhood when my Dad played me the Coltrane / Hartman recordings. I still have his vinyl. I didn’t even want to attempt to replicate Hartman’s voice. It’s not worth touching - it’s perfect. And it’s why they never remade Citizen Kane.

To think Strayhorn wrote that around 16 years old too is just too much to comprehend, to feel that so young, originally titled “Life Is Lonely” which it must have been for an openly gay, black man in 1933; and how prophetic, because he eventually went to Paris, became a socialite and unfortunately an alcoholic.

In a time where LGBTQ rights are under deep threats similar to 1933, I thought this was a good a time as ever to cover it since Strayhorn did write it about another man.

I heard Jay’s baritone on this to make it our own, and knew he could capture the despair and loneliness because I didn’t want to lose that aspect of the song. I wanted Jay’s sound with Strayhorn’s feelings and my childhood memories of being blown away at the song writing.

Jay also sang on “Senor Blues” which is just straight up bad ass and blues. Almost a polar opposite of “Lush Life” and a contrast to feature the many facets of Jay’s personality and the perfect tune for Jason Green. Also another tune I remember early on since my parents loved Horace Silver.

 

RMR: Tell us about your drums, do you endorse a drumming company and do you play other instruments? Also, tell us about working with Michael Carvin these days.

Jason T. Reddish: I play more piano then drums nowadays. I started both at a very young age. I work mostly on classical pieces, but also write and arrange on my 1966 Mason Hamlin baby grand, which I am pictured at on the album. Some people do crossword puzzles on the weekend, I try to play Bach. (LOL)

I am loving, loving, and loving Canopus drums. I have been playing a Yaiba bop kit for quite some time now and love their versatility. They give me a great sound for a more modern jazz and not just for jazz, but across various genres. I did play a Craviotto snare on this record. It was brand new and like breaking in a wild horse at first.

I am working on an endorsement and would love to get a Zelkova snare from Canopus in the near future. I play Istanbul AGOP cymbals and my sticks are Michael Carvin’s signature sticks through Pro Mark. I also play a mean LP Guiro on some of these tracks… Indo taught me some technique for these recordings. (LOL)

Michael Carvin ahhhhhh… I don’t know where to start. He is my mentor and friend. His impact on my life goes beyond words. He has really been a father figure and a shining light through some dark times. My sensei. His life is one of legend and the people he has played with, and those that were lucky enough to play with him are deep, deep, music history that should never be forgotten.

I am honored to know him. He really gave me the confidence, inspiration, ideas and motivation to get this done. I look forward to living up to his legacy and passing on what I have learned from him to the next generation. And making him proud.

 

RMR: What other plans do you have for 2025 and beyond. Will there be further recordings, compositions and live concerts moving forward? Thanks you for taking time-out for this Jason.

Jason T. Reddish: Further recordings; HELL YEAH (God willing LOL) Compositions; yes, I plan on doing more original material on the next one. The Reddish Fetish will be playing out live in the tri state area and wherever the music takes us. Keep an ear and an eye out. I am playing out with Regina Bonelli and the Black Cats NYC in the near future. You can always check my website for dates and thank you so much for your curiosity, support, interest and attention.