Album Reviews

The Next Step | Kurt Rosenwinkel

By Dan ⋅ April 7, 2008 ⋅  Email This Post ⋅  Print This Post ⋅ Post a comment

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I’ll bet ten bucks that you don’t listen to nearly enough jazz. Don’t lie. I certainly don’t. I’ve been on such a long quest of seeking out obscure rock bands that I sometimes forget about other genres. I developed a pretty solid canon of jazz artists from playing in the school band when I was younger and my dad’s CD collection. Everyone knows all the greats from way back when… Miles Davis, Charlie Parker, Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, etc. But did you know people still play jazz? Well… I kind of forgot, shame on me. So I’m dedicating this post to one of my favorite jazz artists that is still cranking out albums. If you’re a fan of jazz guitar and horns, you’ll dig Kurt Rosenwinkel.

I first heard about Kurt Rosenwinkel from a fellow guitar player. His first suggestion was to check out the track Minor Blues. Within the following 30 seconds, I purchased The Next Step (2000). For those of you who haven’t heard any of Kurt Rosenwinkel’s material, I’ll do the same as my buddy and suggest to start off with Minor Blues. If you claim to enjoy jazz and don’t like this guy, I’ll just go ahead and blame it on the paint chips you ate as a child. Your health issues aside, Minor Blues has a beautiful combination of guitar and saxophone with that minor tonality my mind just can’t get enough of. If minor keys aren’t your thing, Kurt does others as well. Its true. Berklee trained guitarist tend know a few.

Filters is another great track. Its more upbeat and has some wonderful guitar/horn syncopation as well as a nearly epic call and return solo. The rhythm section is nothing to sneeze at either. Both the drummer and the bassist do their job and they do it well. Overall, The Next Step is great album and a great way get you listening to jazz again. Go ahead, put it on your to-do list for the day and make it the only thing to do. Unless of course you didn’t recognize any of the names I listed in the first paragraph. In which case, I’d say you’ve got a busy day ahead of you.

Tags: instrumental, jazz