Kurt Rosenwinkel Standards Trio | Reflections

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Guitar, Jazz, Kurt Rosenwinkel

Available Today… Acclaimed Guitarist Kurt Rosenwinkel Standards Trio: Reflections

“There’s this kind of fluidity and architecture in the lines that he plays that I don’t think I’ve heard anybody else do. There’s a mystery in it to me. It’s not obviously derived from some other player. He’s really developed his own language with the musical information and physically the way he’s playing the instrument.” – Bill Frisell

“Kurt Rosenwinkel is rightfully most celebrated for being a 21-century innovator of new music,” begins the liner notes by Ethan Iverson for Rosenwinkel’s latest album (his eighth as leader) titled, Standards Trio: Reflections. “This album of standards offers a clear view of Kurt as a jazz guru.”

Kurt Rosenwinkel, Reflections

A onetime sideman in Gary Burton & Joe Henderson’s bands, Rosenwinkel has released a string of some of the most potent and original recordings of the last decade. On Standards Trio: Reflections, the highly anticipated follow up to 2007’s dynamic The Remedy: Live at the Village Vanguard, he delves into the harmonic fabric of several beautiful standards in an intimate trio setting, accompanied by bassist Eric Revis (a longtime member of the Branford Marsalis Quartet) and drummer Eric Harland (a member of the Charles Lloyd Quartet and the SFJAZZ Collective).

Whereas Kurt Rosenwinkel’s previous album The Remedy – Live At The Village Vanguard caught Kurt with his quintet in a high-wired set of extended solos on original compositions, on Reflections he luxuriates in an almost-all-ballads program. From relaxed renditions of Wayne Shorter’s “Ana Maria” and “Fall,” to elegant interpretations of Thelonious Monk’s “Ask Me Now” and “Reflections” to gorgeous readings of standards like “More Than You’ll Know,” “You’ve Changed” and “You Go To My Head,” Rosenwinkel embraces these timeless melodies with rare nuance and soul. He includes one original in the collection, a stirring remake of the title track from his 1996 debut as a leader “East Coast Love Affair” (the whole album of which has just been transcribed into book form and released by Mel Bay) a song of which Iverson states: “Kurt has been playing this as long as I’ve been listening to him. At this point it almost qualifies as a standard.”