Home » Jazz Articles » Live Review » Kurt Rosenwinkel at Chris’ Jazz Café

Kurt Rosenwinkel at Chris’ Jazz Café

View Slideshow

By Victor L. Schermer
January 2, 2018
View read count

Kurt Rosenwinkel Quartet featuring Peter Bernstein
Chris' Jazz Café
Philadelphia, PA
December 30, 2017

As the New Year approached in frigid weather, venturing out in the cold to Chris' Jazz Café to hear two of the finest jazz guitarists close up proved to be a great way to warm up and look towards jazz in 2018. Since

Pat Martino

guitar
1944 - 2021

" data-original-title="" title="">Pat Martino had performed on the same stage a month prior, the experience also afforded a glimpse of the way in which the guitar, perhaps the most "personal" of all the instruments, becomes an extension of the particular musician.

Each member of this group has his own signature, so their challenge was to form an integrated unit, and this task was well-accomplished by these seasoned players. Rosenwinkel and guest artist

Peter Bernstein

guitar
b.1967

" data-original-title="" title="">Peter Bernstein play very differently, the former with seemingly infinite versatility and smoothness, the latter embodying the Blue Note Records hard bop trademark. Yet they complemented one another very well, providing a rich array of sounds and producing tight patterns of coordinated comping and improvising. Bassist

Mike Boone

bass

" data-original-title="" title="">Mike Boone, the one musician based in Philadelphia (Rosenwinkel is originally from Philadelphia, but has long since moved on globally) kept the group centered with his well-crafted lines and walking pulse. Drummer legend

Victor Lewis

drums
b.1950

" data-original-title="" title="">Victor Lewis provided the passion behind the intelligence with a unique combination of sheets of sound (a phrase often used to describe the continuity in John Coltrane's sonority on the saxophone) on the ride cymbal, with hard-hitting percussive drive on the rest of the drums.

The set consisted of five tunes composed by jazz legends, each of which had its own flavor and challenges. It moved from straight ahead jazz standards (

Benny Golson

saxophone, tenor
1929 - 2024

" data-original-title="" title="">Benny Golson's "Along Came Betty" and

Wayne Shorter

saxophone
1933 - 2023

" data-original-title="" title="">Wayne Shorter's "United") to more intricate pieces (

Miles Davis

trumpet
1926 - 1991

" data-original-title="" title="">Miles Davis' "Milestones" and

Charles Mingus

bass, acoustic
1922 - 1979

" data-original-title="" title="">Charles Mingus' "Portrait in Three Colors"), and concluding with

McCoy Tyner

piano
1938 - 2020

" data-original-title="" title="">McCoy Tyner's "Blues on the Corner," presenting the rhythmic challenges of a blues walk with stride rhythm and a touch of

Thelonious Monk

piano
1917 - 1982

" data-original-title="" title="">Thelonious Monk.

Right away, with "Along Came Betty," Rosenwinkel and Bernstein enriched the possibilities contained in this beautifully constructed jazz perennial. The "swing" feeling was provided by Bernstein and Lewis, while Rosenwinkel effortlessly offered rapidly moving lines that embellished Bernstein's harmonic twists. "United," as is the case with so many of Shorter's tunes, set the stage for modal improvising, and "Milestones" upped the tempo and allowed for greater creative participation by Boone and Lewis. A highlight of the set was Mingus' "Portrait in Three Colors," where Rosenwinkel varied the complexion of the basic tune in several magnificent choruses of diverse guitar "colors" in a manner analogous to an impressionist painter. Lewis made "Blues on the Corner" his own possession with inventive rhythmic phrases that captured everyone's attention and gave the group permission to get carried away, something that musicians as smart as Rosenwinkel, Bernstein, and Boone appeared hesitant to do.

The guitar is one of the most intimate of musical instruments: held near one's lap, and tendered with both hands. As Martino points out in his theorizing and teaching, it also has a cyclical format of chordal fingering, as distinct from the linear movement of the chromatic scale along the piano keys. The net effect is that it allows the finest of guitarists to finger and move along the frets each in his "own sweet way," thus developing striking, almost instantly recognizable ways of playing. Hence, we are graced to have Martino's incomparable precision, pulse, and deep, soulful sound; Rosenwinkel's seemingly effortless gypsy-like creative virtuosity; and Bernstein's crafty complexity in the hard bop idiom. The guitar thus becomes a universal symbol of diversity, an extension of both our common humanity and the uniqueness of each person on the planet.

Personnel: Kurt Rosenwinkel: guitar and leader; Peter Bernstein: guitar and guest artist; Mike Boone: bass; Victor Lewis: drums.

Set List: Along Came Betty (Golson); United (Shorter); Milestones (Davis); Portrait in Three Colors (Mingus); Blues on the Corner (Tyner).

Photo Credit: Victor L. Schermer

PREVIOUS / NEXT

Ian Patterson's Best Releases of 201...
< Previous

Awakening
Next >

Kurt Rosenwinkel Concerts

Oct 7 Tue

Kurt Rosenwinkel

Village Vanguard
New York, NY

Oct 7 Tue

Kurt Rosenwinkel

Village Vanguard
New York, NY

Oct 8 Wed

Kurt Rosenwinkel

Village Vanguard
New York, NY

Oct 8 Wed

Kurt Rosenwinkel

Village Vanguard
New York, NY

Oct 9 Thu

Kurt Rosenwinkel

Village Vanguard
New York, NY

Oct 9 Thu

Kurt Rosenwinkel

Village Vanguard
New York, NY

Oct 10 Fri

Kurt Rosenwinkel

Village Vanguard
New York, NY

Oct 10 Fri

Kurt Rosenwinkel

Village Vanguard
New York, NY

Support All About Jazz

All About Jazz has been a pillar of jazz since 1995, championing it as an art form and, more importantly, supporting the musicians who make it. Our enduring commitment has made "AAJ" one of the most culturally important websites of its kind, read by hundreds of thousands of fans, musicians and industry figures every month.

Go Ad Free!

To maintain our platform while developing new means to foster jazz discovery and connectivity, we need your help. You can become a sustaining member for as little as $20 and in return, we'll immediately hide those pesky ads plus provide access to future articles for a full year. This winning combination vastly improves your AAJ experience and allow us to vigorously build on the pioneering work we first started in 1995. So enjoy an ad-free AAJ experience and help us remain a positive beacon for jazz by making a donation today.