A Rosenwinkel by Any Other Name

Jeff Fitzgerald, Genius

Columnist since 2001

Jeff Fitzgerald is AAJ's resident genius and is often consulted on jazz-related matters of national unimportance.

Recent articles (68 total)

Published: May 17, 2006

2005 brought what many consider to be Kurt's most recent album, Deep Song. Working with several frequent collaborators, such as chewing tobacco magnate Joshua Redman and frequent Guide whipping boy Brad Mehldau, Kurt has delivered one of his most mature efforts to date. Gone are all the fart sounds, and there is not a single reference to boobs on the whole album.

As he continues to come into his own as a leader, Kurt has taken some deliberate risks to suit his own artistic ideals. Foremost among them was removing himself from the familiar environs of the East Coast jazz scene for the far more challenging cantons of Switzerland. Some feel the move was to take advantage of the Swiss' fabled neutrality to finally gain an upper hand in the "I don't know, what do you want to do?" argument, some felt it was a result of his longtime fascination with needlessly complicated pocketknives, while others felt it had something to do with a secret boyhood crush on the Swiss Miss girl.

Be that as it may.

If the past ten years are any indication, the next ten will see Kurt take his rightful place among the contemporary masters of the instrument (second from the left, standing), along with John Scofield and Bill Frisell. Not to mention another big name in jazz, John Abercrombie (15 letters). If we ever got the chance to work together (as Abercrombie & Fitz), we'd be the two-man tag team champeens of jazz names.

Till next month, kids, exit to your right and enjoy the rest of AAJ.

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