Saxophonist and composer Rahsaan Barber enters a deeply personal new chapter with Eternal, an album that combines his sophisticated approach to modern jazz with an unusually powerful sense of emotion and reflection. Due October 9 on his own Jazz Music City Records, the album features eight Barber originals alongside an inventive interpretation of Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On.”
Barber is joined by his longtime working rhythm section—pianist Matt Endahl, bassist Kevin Beardsley and drummer Joshua Hunt—along with New Orleans guitarist Ted Ludwig, whose addition brings another distinctive voice to the quartet.
The personal circumstances surrounding Eternal had a profound effect on the recording. Shortly before the sessions, Barber and his wife, classical saxophonist Heidi Radtke, learned that her pregnancy was no longer viable. The loss became part of the album’s emotional foundation, particularly the title track.
Originally called “Awaiting Zora,” after the daughter the couple had been expecting, the composition became “Eternal,” taking on a different meaning as Barber transformed his grief into music.
“I feel like they put a force field around me that allowed me to be in a place that became therapeutic for me, life-affirming,” Barber said of the musicians who surrounded him during the sessions.
That sense of empathy carries throughout the album. Barber’s playing is expressive and commanding, but Eternal is equally notable for the interaction among the musicians. The album often feels less like a showcase for individual players than a conversation among a group that knows how to listen to one another.
Ludwig makes an immediate impression. Barber first encountered the New Orleans guitarist when the two performed together in Memphis, and was intrigued by how Ludwig's more traditional musical language could interact with his own modern compositions. His playing brings what Barber describes as a “sweet kind of fire” to the sessions.
That quality can be heard on “The Skipper,” “Mandela” and particularly “Cabbage,” where Ludwig delivers an energetic guitar contribution to the funky piece. Endahl gets the spotlight on the swinging opener “Day Dreamer” as well as the more reflective “Gratitude (For Claire),” while Beardsley takes a featured role on “Cabbage (Reprise).”
Drummer Joshua Hunt is featured on “Day Dreamer” and “The Skipper,” while making an especially notable contribution to the latter portion of Barber’s transformation of “What’s Going On.” The Marvin Gaye classic becomes something more than a familiar cover, fitting naturally into the album’s broader themes of reflection, loss and perseverance.
At the center of it all is Barber, whose tenor saxophone provides the album with both strength and vulnerability. Eternal represents the latest step in a career that has moved comfortably between performance, composition and education.
Born in Nashville in 1980, Barber grew up in a musical family and chose the tenor saxophone, following the example of his older brother Robert. He and his twin brother Roland, a trombonist, studied under renowned jazz educator David Baker at Indiana University before earning master’s degrees at the Manhattan School of Music. Barber later earned a doctorate in classical saxophone from the University of Memphis.
His academic career has included positions at Belmont University and Tennessee State University before he joined the University of North Carolina, where he is a tenured assistant professor of music. He has also taught master classes at universities around the country.
Alongside his academic work, Barber has maintained an active performing career. He and Roland released the co-led Twinnovation in 2000, while Barber's first album as a leader, Trio Soul, followed in 2005. Years of work on the Nashville scene led to touring opportunities with artists including Kelly Clarkson, Chris Stapleton, the Wooten Brothers and Delfeayo Marsalis.
His subsequent albums have increasingly emphasized his work as a composer. Everyday Magic arrived in 2010, followed by the standards-oriented Music in the Night in 2016, the all-original Mosaic in 2021 and Six Words in 2024, which featured an eight-part original suite.
With Eternal, Barber continues that progression while bringing an especially personal perspective to his music. The album's combination of original compositions, a reimagined soul classic and the chemistry of his working band gives the saxophonist another opportunity to explore the space where modern jazz, groove and deeply personal expression meet.
Barber will celebrate the album with three October CD release performances. The first takes place October 2 at Sharp 9 Jazz Gallery in Durham, North Carolina, with a quintet featuring Jeff “Tain” Watts, Keith Ganz, Kevin Beardsley and Joe Davidian. He follows with a performance at the University of Memphis School of Music on October 16, featuring Watts, Nat Reeves, Kevin Ganz and Matt Endahl. The October 17 Nashville Jazz Workshop performance will feature Matt Endahl, Brian Allen, Keith Ganz and Joshua Hunt.
Eternal arrives October 9, marking another significant chapter in Rahsaan Barber’s development as a saxophonist, composer and bandleader—and one shaped by experiences that have given the music an unmistakably personal voice.
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