Kurt Rosenwinkel
THE NEXT STEP
(Self-released)
Musicians go for guitarist
Kurt Rosenwinkel because of the brainy ebb and flow of his improvisations --
the expansive harmonic vocabulary expressed in an endless array of chord
substitutions, plus quirky, conversational phrasing that bucks the bebop
convention of rat-a-tat eighth notes. Rosenwinkel is a virtuoso, all right, but
on The Next Step (his second album for Verve) he's also got the tunes
and the band. Every piece balances careful design with spontaneous invention.
"Dr. Zhivago" opens with a stop-start theme driven by drummer Jeff Ballard's
brushes, then releases into a passage of relentlessly surging triple meter.
This number has the ingenious melodic and harmonic turns of some lost show tune
by Loesser or Sondheim, but with just the right dash of contemporary funk.
As for the band, they've been working together now for seven years, and that
means maximum flexibility for extended explorations. Rosenwinkel and
saxophonist Mark Turner negotiate angular bopping unison themes or spar in
simultaneous improvisations. Bassist Ben Street and drummer Jeff Ballard have
the bottom covered, so that when the leader switches to piano for the title
tune, everyone stays together, from the opening, impressionist Bill Evans
chords through the march-like theme and the "soul jazz" coda.
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