Joshua Redman, with Brad Mehldau, Christian McBride, Brian Blade
‘RoundAgain’ (Nonesuch Records)

Joshua Redman, now 53, is back on the road, and he seems younger than ever. His two most recent projects are team-ups with superstar piano players and their trios, and this resounds as highly appropriate because Mr. Redman is a tenor saxophonist with a facility more common to pianists. 

He gets around his horn — negotiating the layout of keys, pads, breath, mouthpiece, reed — with remarkable speed and harmonic acuity that almost makes the instrument seem like a wind-driven keyboard.

The force behind Mr. Redman on his latest album, “RoundAgain,” is pianist Brad Mehldau, bassist Christian McBride, and drummer Brian Blade. As an ensemble, the four of them specialize in creating original music for this classic jazz format. 

For his latest full-on concert, Mr. Redman joined forces with the Bill Charlap Trio, with bassist Peter Washington and drummer Kenny Washington, for a triumphant 90-minute set of brilliant interpretations of jazz and American songbook standards.

The “RoundAgain” quartet is a reunion of one of Mr. Redman’s first working bands, the group heard on the prized 1994 album “MoodSwings.” It plays seven tunes here, three of which are by the leader. His “Silly Little Love Song” might be my favorite, because, in overall construction, it comes closest to feeling like a pop song. The composer’s statement of the melody is especially vocal, and you can almost hear the suggestion of lyrics in your head and even imagine what the words would be.  

The title aside, the tune itself is more funky than silly.  In fact, a certain literate funkiness — a thinking man’s funk — pervades the whole album. “Floppy Diss” is a bluesy little riff that seems to turn in on itself, and that I would have guessed was contributed by Mr. McBride even before I checked the album credits. Mr. Redman switches to soprano saxophone on this track (and the one that follows), which further distinguishes this piece from the rest of the album. He remains on soprano for Mr. Mehldau’s “Father,” in which the use of 3/4 time, or possibly 6/8, signifies, for me at least, a reference to the older generation.  

Tuesday night’s concert, which opened the 37th series of the Y’s “Jazz in July” series, marked the first time Messrs. Redman and Charlap have worked together and, like Mr. Charlap’s recent pairing with Dee Dee Bridgewater at Birdland, portends a collaboration for the ages. (Kenny Washington was, coincidentally, the drummer on Mr. Redman’s first ever leader session, in 1992.)  

A few years ago, Mr. Redman also joined forces with another long-running, highly revered jazz trio, The Bad Plus. Both at the Blue Note and on a 2015 album, the saxophonist proved that he could fit in with a group that had its own long-established, highly distinctive sound and still sound like himself; here, he does the same thing with a very different but equally great Trio.

The evening started with Irving Berlin’s classic waltz, “Remember,” but played a la Hank Mobley in a boppish four. It began on a swinging note and got progressively more so as the set progressed, reaching a climax about an hour in with two early modern classics, Charlie Parker’s “Segment” and Thelonious Monk’s “Criss-Cross.” (The latter was embellished by a quick, throwaway quote from “Green Chimneys.”)  

The two co-stars also rhapsodized over a pair of concert style ballads, mostly rubato, “Stardust,” and “Lush Life,“ two songs that should never be played fast.  

It was a unique and beautiful evening that should be released as a CD or on YouTube. For the first time, the Y’s jazz series became something more like a contemporary European festival concert, like Montreux or North Sea, in which essentially one act (or combination of talents) plays at a super-high level for a whole show.

Jazz in a club like Birdland or the Blue Note is more relaxed and laid back — the kind you enjoy with an adult beverage in hand. The conjoined powers of Messrs. Redman and Charlap vividly illustrate the appeal of jazz in a concert setting, with two virtuosos — make that four — consistently playing at peak performance. Throughout, I was amazed at the energy level. Sometimes energy in musical performance takes the form of volume, i.e., playing louder; sometimes it affects the tempo, i.e., playing faster. Here, they were just playing with more excitement, both more precision and more abandon, and more drama. 

On the stage at the Y, it had the feeling of a dance event or even a basketball game, particularly when they reached the climax, an ecstatic “Caravan.” This is hardly an unusual choice for a big finish, especially with an expected extended drum solo by Mr. Washington, and it was followed by Parker’s “Chi Chi” as a concluding theme.  

It was one of those amazing nights when the whole house was caught up in the same excitement as the four performers, and I can’t be the only one who thought he was seeing the band literally leave the ground. I could swear I saw Bill Charlap levitating from his piano bench and Joshua Redman ascending toward the Y’s upper proscenium. It was hard enough to believe my ears, but maybe I should get my eyes checked as well.