The Joshua Redman quintet includes Joshua Redman on saxophone, Paul Cornish on piano, Philip Norris on bass and Nazir Ebo on drums. (photo courtesy of The Wallis)

Saxophonist Joshua Redman will open the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts’ 2026-27 season on Friday, Sept. 25, at 7:30 p.m. with his quartet performing music from “Words Fall Short.” The Skylar Tang Quartet will open the evening at the Bram Goldsmith Theater.

“Words Fall Short,” Redman’s 2025 album, features previously unheard original compositions and marks a return to instrumental music following the vocal collaborations of his previous album, “where are we.” Redman will perform with pianist Paul Cornish, bassist Philip Norris and drummer Nazir Ebo.

“It’s impossible for me to will a project into being,” Redman said. “This album came out of a working environment that inspired me to dig into compositions that hadn’t found a home yet.”

The quartet took shape after the first leg of Redman’s “where are we” tour, when members of his previous rhythm section departed for other commitments. Norris and Ebo joined first, followed by Cornish in summer 2023. After nearly a year of performances together, Redman began introducing compositions he had developed during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We were at a soundcheck, and I decided to try one of the tunes,” Redman said. “It felt good, and I said, ‘Let’s try another.’ After we ran through maybe three more in 10 minutes, I realized that we were ‘ready.’”

Trumpeter and composer Skylar Tang, who appears on the album track “Icarus,” will begin the concert with her quartet. Tang, a San Francisco Bay Area native, began playing trumpet at age 9 and composing at 14. She is studying history at Columbia University and is also enrolled in a joint Columbia University-Juilliard School program.

Redman first heard Tang perform when she was a high school sophomore. He later invited her to a soundcheck before his quartet’s Jazz at Lincoln Center concert and asked her to play “Icarus.”

“She came in the next day with the whole thing memorized,” Redman said. “Once again I heard how that melody benefited from the presence of another voice, and we recorded it with her a few weeks later.”

Tang’s quartet includes pianist William Schwartzman, bassist John Murray and drummer Ethan Oliver.

Tickets are available at thewallis.org or by calling (310)746-4000.

The Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts is located at 9390 N. Santa Monica Blvd.