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Kurt Rosenwinkel: Reflections
The first thing to catch one's attention is Rosenwinkel's guitar sound, unmistakably an amplified archtop, but so luminous that only the subtlest alterations and the best fingers could achieve it, so rich that it comes as a shock when Rosenwinkel applies it to some daunting runs. The opening account of Monk's "Reflections" sets the tone for the CD, a respectful reading that soon achieves its own harmonic and group language, a sense of incipient blues and a dialogue between the three musicians that's still apparent in Rosenwinkel's quiet, upper-register comping behind Revis' bass solo.
Every sudden and muted detail in Rosenwinkel's playing, every chorded passage or aside, seems to sing in the service of an ultimate lyric effusion. It's apparent in the lightly echoed effervescence of "You Go To My Head" and in Shorter's "The Fall," propelled by a gentle samba beat. Rosenwinkel gives "More than You Know" an ambivalent mood, with an opening improvisation that alternates dark-hued, pensive chordings with short runs that burst into light.
The only original in the program is "East Coast Love Affair," a longstanding Rosenwinkel composition that was the title track to his 1996 debut. Beginning with a long unaccompanied introduction, it has a clarity that somehow fuses a baroque sense of order with a harmonic imagination that can suggest Satie or Scriabin. Nearly ten minutes long, it might be the highlight of an already brilliant CD.
Track Listing
Reflections; You Go To My Head; Fall; East Coast Love Affair; Ask Me Now; Ana Maria; More Than You Know; You've Changed.
Personnel
Kurt Rosenwinkel
guitarKurt Rosenwinkel: guitar; Eric Revis: bass; Eric Harland: drums.
Album information
Title: Reflections | Year Released: 2009 | Record Label: Wommusic
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