Customer Reviews

Intuit

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

In this recording of all jazz standards, Kurt Rosenwinkle provides a number of fresh, tasty solos which make listening to this CD a pleasure. Unfortunately, the piano player isn't quite up to speed on this date, playing a little behind the beat and struggling a bit on his solos. Most people probably won't even notice, however, as the guitarist more than makes up for this slight deficiency with his distinctive sound and deft playing. KR excels especially on the last track, "Conception," which is worth the price of the disk all on its own.
All in all, a date which is sure to please straight-ahead jazz lovers and, perhaps, may influence cross-over audiences to delve further into the rich, century-old tradition of jazz music.

This is with out a doubt, one of my favorite albums. Kurt's playing is fresh and inventive. I was impressed with his treatment of standards and his unique improvisational approach.

"The Next Step" was my first KR album. KR does stand out from the rests as he chooses his notes to speak, rather than just going over some chord changes. In this (mostly) standard songs, he and the band managed to bring the music up the average jam session by their ability and mastery on their respective instruments. It still has the jam session feeling, enough balance of relax-tension to make it a good album.

I believe that it is every jazz artist's obligation to release a disc in the vein of traditional jazz to display that his/her talent doesn't lie merely within the boundaries of a style that they themselves created. The traditional jazz album is a way of putting all on an equal plane to be measured and Kurt Rosenwinkle measures up to my favorites.

I saw K.R. live a few years ago with Ben Street and it sounded great....very fun jazz...like Marc Johnson or Bill Frisell. This album was not at all what I expected.

It might just be a matter of personal taste....this was way way too "straight ahead" "wynton marsalis-like". He's a great musician... ....I just didn't like this album.