Tonight Kurt will hold a masterclass clinic, and tomorrow the tour goes to Japan where Kurt, Matt and Rodney will perform in Osaka, Nagoya, Yokohama and 3 nights in Tokyo (at 2 different venues). If you are around please stop by to say hi!

The app features various content such as information about concerts, Kurt’s twitter posts, a list to blog news, photos as well as videos. We’ve made the recent video “Recording Reflections” available through the App, for instance, and also the video (that many of you have requested) where Kurt discusses his pedal board setup (it was shot in 2008 at the Village Vanguard in connection with the release of The Remedy) + several other videos that are also available via this website for instance.

We hope you enjoy this extra resource for keeping in touch with Kurt Rosenwinkel, and look much forward to your feedback!

UPDATE: NPR today made Kurt Rosenwinkel’s rendition of Thelonious Monk’s “Reflections” the “Song of the day”  - and gave the song an additional review. You can read the story and listen to the song by clicking here.

NPR’s (National Public Radio) Tom Moon reviewed Kurt Rosenwinkel Standards Trio: Reflections in todays “All Things Considered”. He starts out by saying that he was initially “dismayed” to learn that Kurt – a jazz “rebel” in Tom Moon’s words – would be making what initially appeared to be a traditionalist album. Without wanting to kill the suspense, I think we can reveal that this story ends well for “Reflections”. Check it out by clicking on this link here.  For those of you that didn’t yet download the free sets from Kurt Rosenwinkel Band’s performance at the Village Vanguard (performing original music as opposed to standards) from January 2009 (with Aaron Parks, Ben Street & Kendrick Scott), you can also find the links to do so by clicking on the same link.

We have a couple more reviews in on “Kurt Rosenwinkel Standards Trio: Reflections” – the first one is by Mark Corroto on AllAboutJazz. Click here to read that review. Peter Hum reviewed the album in the Ottawa Citizen. But Peter also made a much more in-depth review of the album on his blog, and you can find that post here.  There’s also a short review by Doug Ramsey in Rifftides. And Jacob Teichroew put “Reflections” into his holiday gift guide on about.com. Thanks for that Jacob! And there’s also a fabulous review of the album in the Boston Globe! And this review by Greg Barbrick from blogcritics stands out because it spends quality time on Eric Revis and Eric Harland as well! Plus good, old allmusic also recently penned their own review of the album. Keep checking this post as we will add new reviews to it as they come in.

Wommusic - Catalog #WOM0002

Compact Disc

Release Date: 11/17/2009

Buy “Reflections” by cliking here

“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.”

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.

Tracks : 01 – Reflections | 02 – You Go To My Head | 03 – Fall| 04 – East Coast Love Affair | 05 – Ask Me Now | 06 – Ana Maria | 07 – More Than You Know | 08 – You’ve Changed

Kurt Rosenwinkel: guitar; Eric Revis : bass; Eric Harland: drums

On Standards Trio: Reflections, the highly anticipated followup 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.”

“I wanted to have a very intimate and acoustic sound on this record,” says the Philadelphia native who currently resides in Berlin. “And I wanted to sort of go back to my Philly roots in terms of getting into the blues in my playing, because I often don’t bring that out at all. But I’ve just been feeling that side of things lately and I wanted to play in that way on this project.”

In some ways, this outing is a return to 1998’s Intuit, a collection of standards in a quartet setting. But more than ten years down the road, Rosenwinkel’s sound is warmer, fuller and his approach to the instrument more refined. While that earlier standards project included such challenging, chops-busting burners as Charlie Parker’s “Sippin’ at Bells” and George Shearing’s “Conception,” this time out the emphasis is almost exclusively on ballads. And working without a piano in the group is a bit like a high wire act working without a net. “My first record, East Coast Love Affair, was also a trio standards recording,” he says, “but I feel like I have more to say as an artist in that context. And as a guitarist I just wanted to explore that open, beautiful space again.”

While East Coast Love Affair was recorded for the small independent label out of Spain, Fresh Sound New Talent, and Intuit was released on the Dutch label Criss Cross, Rosenwinkel’s first widespread recognition Stateside came with the release of The Enemies of Energy, his 2000 Verve Records debut. He followed that with 2001’s acclaimed The Next Step, which further developed the songcraft and unique harmonic language he was developing with tenor saxophonist and kindred spirit Mark Turner. 2003’s adventurous Heartcore, which combined elements of jazz, electronica, hip-hop and ambient music, was co-produced by rapper Q-Tip from the pioneering alternative hip-hop trio A Tribe Called Quest.

And on 2005’s Deep Song, Rosenwinkel joined forces with like-minded colleagues Brad Mehldau, Joshua Redman, Larry Grenadier, Ali Jackson and Jeff Ballard. 2007’s The Remedy captured the guitarist’s working quintet (saxophonist Turner, pianist Aaron Goldberg, bassist Joe Martin and drummer Harland) during a week-long engagement at New York’s fabled jazz club, the Village Vanguard.

After the pyrotechnics of that invigorating live outing, Reflections is like a cleansing breath for Rosenwinkel. Perhaps Rosenwinkel’s most refined and engaging project to date, Reflections reveals a warmer side to this gifted, multi-directional musician.

“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 re-defining the mainstream” – Jon Garelick, Boston Phoenixn

“There [is] a streak of otherworldliness in his playing, but also a sense of deep familiarity.” - Nate Chinen, The New York Times

“Rosenwinkel’s music represents the sound of the future-just as bebop once did.” - Howard Reich, Chicago Tribune

The album is available either as a CD (1 cd – 6 panel digipak with booklet) or in 3 different download qualities – 320 kbps MP3, Apple Lossless (is immediately playable in iTunes) and Flac lossless (click on each format name to read about them on wikipedia). You also get the artwork and booklet a a downloadable PDF file when buying the various downloads.

We also very happy to offer bundle-packages with The Remedy. We feel that “Reflections” and “The Remedy” are a perfect companion set and introduction to Kurt Rosenwinkel as an artist: “Reflections” being Kurt’s interpretations of some classic standards from the classic jazz repertoire, recorded in a laid-back studio atmosphere, and “The Remedy” being the hard-charged live set of original compositions + with all the legendary ambience from the most legendary jazz club in the world!

So if you don’t already own The Remedy, now is the chance to get both for a reduced price. Check here for more information about this and the other offers in our store.

And thank you so much in advance for your support!

Kurt recording "Reflections"

Please scroll below the review of “On Fillmore” as the review of Kurt’s album is the 2nd of 5 reviews in this article.