In the 1980s, when the American Federation of Musicians called a strike that caused a virtual shutdown of U.S. film and television recording, Redford used the opportunity to continue his musical education.
From 1976 to the present, Redford has been concurrently writing music for film and television, the concert hall, chamber artists, choral ensembles, and the theater.
In a 2009 article, Jérémie Noyer wrote, "It is that rich experience that makes Redford's music unique, drawing from an incredible array of influences .
Collaborating with other artists, Redford has orchestrated, arranged, or conducted for Academy Award-winning composers James Horner, Alan Menken, Randy Newman, and Rachel Portman, as well as for Terence Blanchard, Danny Elfman, Mark Isham, Thomas Newman, Marc Shaiman, and Cirque du Soleil's Benoît Jutras, on projects including The Little Mermaid, The Nightmare Before Christmas, The Perfect Storm, Avatar, The Amazing Spider-Man, The Help, The Iron Lady, Skyfall, 1917, and Pixar's WALL-E and Finding Dory.
He has written for and recorded with Grammy Award-winning artists Joshua Bell, Steven Curtis Chapman, Bonnie Raitt, and Sting.
"[7] David Vernier called Redford "a composer who knows how to write good tunes, engaging rhythms that capture the energy implied in the texts, and who knows how to pull the essential dramatic moments from a story and orchestrate them.
"[8] His music has been called evocative,[9] intensely expressive,[10] epic,[11] beautifully orchestrated with an almost palpable sense of tenderness,[12] and tuneful and lyric.
[13] His oratorio The Martyrdom of St. Polycarp reflects "a mix of styles—sometimes tonal, sometimes polytonal, with rich choral textures and superb orchestrations bringing depth of emotion and fine musical results.
"[14] Redford's range makes his music at times "emotionally powerful, convey[ing] feelings of pain, anguish and sorrow"[10] and at others "delightful and witty.
"[18] NPR’s Gene Parrish wrote of the same piece that his "careful selection and interpretation of his texts are matched by profound musical inspirations, and executed by well-crafted orchestrations and genuinely masterful choral writing.