It could be argued that the practice of jazz in the last 10 years has been more original than at any time in the past. By original I don’t mean unprecedented; that’s a word for publicists, not musicians. I mean newly composed, rather than covering old songs or their chord changes. The guitarist Kurt Rosenwinkel is important to the story of jazz since the late ’90s, and he’s rarely recorded anyone else’s music since then.
But that changes with his album Reflections, to be released later this month (on the Word of Mouth Music label), and with his shows this week at the Village Vanguard. Both the record and the gig are about jazz as a common repertory, and he’s not aiming to take old songs apart; he’s just applying his methods of improvising to them.
This show is worth seeing just for pleasure, but for anyone currently learning the technique of jazz guitar, it could be considered a required class. Mr. Rosenwinkel’s style is engaged, thorough, consistent, pretty free of tics from earlier players and for all its prowess, not particularly overbearing.
But that changes with his album Reflections, to be released later this month (on the Word of Mouth Music label), and with his shows this week at the Village Vanguard. Both the record and the gig are about jazz as a common repertory, and he’s not aiming to take old songs apart; he’s just applying his methods of improvising to them.
This show is worth seeing just for pleasure, but for anyone currently learning the technique of jazz guitar, it could be considered a required class. Mr. Rosenwinkel’s style is engaged, thorough, consistent, pretty free of tics from earlier players and for all its prowess, not particularly overbearing.
