Wish is an original composition by tenor saxophonist Joshua Redman, first recorded for his self-titled debut album Joshua Redman, released on Warner Bros. in 1993. The piece is structured in an AABC form spanning 28 bars, giving it an asymmetric architecture that distinguishes it from standard 32-bar song forms. Written during Redman's emergence as one of the most prominent young voices in jazz, the tune reflects his melodic sensibility and post-bop compositional approach, balancing lyrical themes with harmonically adventurous passages that invite extended improvisation. Redman revisited Wish on his follow-up album of the same name, also released in 1993, which featured a formidable quartet of Pat Metheny on guitar, Charlie Haden on bass, and Billy Higgins on drums. That live recording, captured at the Village Vanguard, took the composition in a bolder, more exploratory direction influenced by the free jazz aesthetic of Ornette Coleman, whose former sidemen Haden and Higgins brought their collective storytelling sensibility to the performance. While Wish is not a widely covered standard in the broader jazz repertoire, it holds a meaningful place in Redman's catalog as an early original that showcased his dual gifts as both an improviser and composer at the outset of his career.
