AMG Review by Richard S. Ginell (4 1/2):
With this recording, guitarist Kurt Rosenwinkel creates a unique sound world, blending elements of jazz and rock with electronica, occasional Third World strains, and other grooves in an absorbing, inward journey that defies classification. In doing so, Rosenwinkel refuses to limit himself to the guitar, often contributing keyboards, drums, and voice, and at times he takes over entire tracks all by himself via layerings in his Brooklyn studio. The way Rosenwinkel extends his strings of endless melody over an ever-changing harmonic backdrop reminds one of the winding compositions of Wayne Shorter. Indeed, at times he produces a sax-like tone from his guitar, with Mark Turner's duskier tenor sax as a unison co-voice and a foil. "Blue Line" finds Rosenwinkel drumming in the left channel, keeping up a complex groove with drummer Jeff Ballard on the right, eventually overcome by synthesizer washes. "All the Way to Rajasthan" evokes the Pat Metheny sound but the rhythm is fractured and the music seems to have and lack direction at the same time. "Your Vision" is a loop out of a sci-fi film — all Rosenwinkel except for Andrew D'Angelo's bass clarinet, a truly strange track — while "Interlude" is another fascinating gauzy bit of electronica at the CD's halfway point. "Thought About You," another one-man track, takes a Turkish rhythmic vamp and gradually builds a moody, enveloping texture. Rosenwinkel claims that the music of Arnold Schoenberg and hip-hop alike inspired another technique on this CD — producing unusual harmonic textures by means of different dynamic levels on the instruments in the mix. Well, maybe, but in a way, this is 21st century expressionism of a sort, creating levels of ambiguity and uncertainty, leaving the listener out on a limb yet always intrigued. Give it a shot; you may not want to leave this twilight zone.
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allaboutjazz:
It took long enough, but guitarist Kurt Rosenwinkel has outdone himself on Heartcore, co-produced with hip-hopper Q-Tip. Fans of his seemingly ancient 2001 release The Next Step will love Heartcore for its continuity in the “Rosenwinkelian” vein of brashly inventive and original melodies and harmonies (enhanced by ambient noise and the simultaneous echo of his voice mirroring his fluid guitar lines). Very few tunes are in 4/4 time. Very few tunes sound like anything else he's done before. But they all have the core values of modernity and utter straightforwardness and candor.
For the first time, Rosenwinkel uses digital sampling and programming on a recording that he claims consumed much of the last three years and brings together things that he had been wanting to do for a long time.
The core group of The Next Step (Mark Turner on sax and bass clarinet, Jeff Ballard on drums, and Ben Street on acoustic bass) is supplemented by pianist Ethan Iverson, bass clarinetist Andrew D’Angelo, and flutist Mariano Gil in different combinations.
The title track lays out a straight-up backbeat-driven groove, played – believe it or not – by just the leader and his life-long partner in crime, saxophonist Mark Turner. All that percussion and bass is Rosenwinkel’s computer improvisation. And boy does it work. “Blue Line” is mostly an ensemble effort in an acoustic vein, save the leader’s electronic drums juxtaposed against Ballard’s tempered stick work. It follows the asymmetric quality of “Zhivago” and “Filters” from the last album.
Later, on “Your Vision,” Rosenwinkel steps out of the box with a trance-like state of noise followed by a haunting persistent percussive conga groove. The piece draws on modern electronica as well as the electric qualities of Bitches Brew (thus the ambient bass clarinet drones, squawks, and free runs) and the excesses of psychedelic rock a la Jimi Hendrix or Creedence Clearwater Revival. “Interlude” punctuates the interval between electronic mayhem and the return to the as-a-band format on “Our Secret World,” the only tune on the record where the leader plays only guitar, his home instrument, if one can call it that. “Dream/Memory” shows Rosenwinkel taking an introspective look inside himself and the music, punctuating his musical thoughts with distortions and other noise.
I’ll let you find out the rest for yourself. If this isn’t the future sound of jazz, then I can’t imagine what is.
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