KURT
ROSENWINKEL
Deep Song
Verve
Kurt Rosenwinkel’s latest recording,
Deep Song, bears a somewhat greater resemblance
to The Next Step, an album the guitarist made in
2001 than to its immediate predecessor, Heartcore.
In contrast to Heartcore, which was very studio-produced
recording, Deep Song sounds much more like it was
largely recorded live in the studio with considerably less
post-recording processing. Much of the new CD also possesses
a more straightforward post-bop modern jazz sound. But Deep
Song would not have been possible, one senses, without
Heartcore’s studio manipulations and the
record’s ability to sustain a chilled, spacey atmosphere.
Obviously much was learned from working on Heartcore,
and Deep Song is better than it otherwise would
have been because of the experience Rosenwinkel has gained.
For one thing Deep Song sounds really
good, setting a standard for new small group jazz production.
Rosenwinkel’s guitar is very clearly audible even
during intensive passages, but it is not so far outside
and above the mix that is doesn’t seem part of the
whole. On some cuts, for example the beautiful ballad “Use
of Light” Rosenwinkel soars above a frenzied rhythm
section, evoking the open Midwestern sky feel of some of
the Pat Metheney Group’s best work. But that’s
only part of the sonic bag available to Rosenwinkel and
his cohorts.
Heartcore was a major release and
a real breakthrough for both Rosenwinkel and the future
of jazz guitar. There’s no question that Rosenwinkel
and his touring band, along with co-producer Q-Tip, created
a piece of work that will be influential to young musicians
far into the future. Like some crucial jazz recordings of
the past—for example, Miles Davis’ In A
Silent Way or Weather Report’s Mysterious
Traveller—Heartcore set the compass
for future explorations and demonstrated that the studio
should be available as a sonic laboratory for jazz musicians
just as it is for rock and pop musicians. Deep Song
consolidates much of the progress made on its predecessor
and expands on it without needing to push forward into uncharted
territory. No wonder, then, that Deep Song ends
up sounding more expansive and organic than Heartcore
even though it is ultimately a more straightforward
modern jazz-sounding recording.
Working with Rosenwinkel is a stellar band
where every player contributes to the success of the whole
in a major way. Saxophonist Joshua Redman, pianist Brad
Mehldau, bassist Larry Grenadier, and alternating drummers
Jeff Ballard and Ali Jackson manage to sound like a regular
working band even though they are not. Redman is a wonderful
collaborator for Rosenwinkel, and his incisive tenor commentary
keeps the group’s feet on the ground even when Rosenwinkel
and the rhythm section blast off into the stratosphere or
meander down some sidestreet, lost in a daydream. Of course,
this group of musicians has played together, in various
configurations, plenty, having come up together. Rosenwinkel
counts folks like Redman and Mehldau among his friends,
so it’s not so surprising that this band can cook
the way that it does.
Ultimately, the difference between the two
albums is somewhat superficial, a consequence of deliberately
different approaches, and not as important as the fact that
Rosenwinkel continues to grow as a musician and has produced
another great album for music fans to listen to. The musical
progression that’s represented from one album to the
next makes perfect sense. It’s encouraging that Rosenwinkel
can produce an album like Heartcore and then follow
it up with something like Deep Song. It bodes well
for Rosenwinkel and his musical future, of course, but it
also is a healthy sign for the future of improvised music.
