Kurt Rosenwinkel

Kurt Rosenwinkel (born October 28, 1970) is an American jazz guitarist and keyboardist who came to prominence in the 1990s.

Biography
Rosenwinkel attended the Berklee School of Music for two and a half years before leaving in his junior year to tour with Gary Burton, the dean of the school at the time. Subsequently, Rosenwinkel moved to Brooklyn, where he continued to develop his jazz guitar skills by performing with Human Feel, Paul Motian's Electric Bebop Band, Joe Henderson Group, and the Brian Blade Fellowship. During that time he began using a Lavalier lapel microphone fed into his guitar amplifier that blends his vocalizing with his guitar and has become a trademark of his sound, both live and in the studio. This sound is reminiscent of the sound made famous by the Pat Metheny Group (unison lines played by guitar and vocals).

In 1995 he won the Composer's Award from the National Endowment for the Arts and was eventually signed by Verve Records. Since then, he has played and recorded as both a leader and sideman with fellow-alumni such as Mark Turner and Brad Mehldau as well as many others. During Rosenwinkel's tenure with Verve he collaborated with Q-Tip of A Tribe Called Quest, who co-produced his studio album Heartcore (2003) that featured bassist Ben Street, drummer Jeff Ballard and saxophonist Mark Turner and was a departure from the usual compositional process for Rosenwinkel, blending elements of jazz, rock, hip hop and electronica. He would further collaborate with Q-Tip, performing guitar on the latter's albums The Renaissance (2008) and Kamaal/The Abstract (2009).

Rosenwinkel has since released a double live album as band leader. The album is entitled The Remedy - Live at the Village Vanguard (2008) and features Mark Turner, Aaron Goldberg, Joe Martin and Eric Harland. On November 10, 2009, Rosenwinkel released a trio recording, Standards Trio: Reflections (2009), which features Eric Revis on bass and Eric Harland on drums. On September 7, 2010, Rosenwinkel released his ninth album as a leader, entitled Kurt Rosenwinkel & OJM: Our Secret World (2010) and featuring OJM an 18-piece big band from Porto, Portugal.

Originally from Philadelphia, Rosenwinkel currently resides in Berlin, Germany, raising his two sons Silas and Ezra and serving as professor of jazz guitar at the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler.

Style
Rosenwinkel is known for his distinct sound and style of improvisation. He describes his influences as artists as diverse as Allan Holdsworth, Grant Green, George Van Eps, Booker Little, Duke Ellington, John Coltrane, Pat Metheny, Marbin, Bud Powell, and Elmo Hope and The Notorious B.I.G.

Equipment
Rosenwinkel uses a wide variety of effects units, each with a specific function and effect on the guitar's sound. As of May 2013 he has been seen using the following: Neunaber WET Stereo Reverb, Strymon Timeline, Strymon Mobius, Digitech Vocalist, Thegigrig HumDinger, Rockett Allan Holdsworth, Empress ParaEQ.

Previously he has used many pedals including: Pro Co RAT distortion, TC Electronic Nova Reverb, Lehle D. Loop Effect-loop/Switcher, Strymon Blue Sky Reverb, Strymon El Capistan dTApe Echo, Malekko Echo 600 Dark, Old World Audio 1960 Compressor, Electro-Harmonix HOG Polyphonic Guitar Synthesizer, Eventide TimeFactor Delay, Xotic X-Blender Effects Loops, Empress Tremolo, Lehle Parallel line mixer, TC Electronic SCF stereo chorus flanger, and Boss Corporation OC-3 octave, among others.

Most often seen playing his D'Angelico New Yorker semi-hollow guitar, he also plays a Sadowsky semi-hollow, a cherry red Gibson ES-335, and more recently two custom guitars made for him by Italian master luthier Domenico Moffa.

Leader

 * 1996 - Kurt Rosenwinkel Trio - East Coast Love Affair - (Fresh Sound New Talent)
 * 1998 - Kurt Rosenwinkel Quartet - Intuit - (Criss Cross)
 * Unreleased - Kurt Rosenwinkel - Under It All
 * 2000 - Kurt Rosenwinkel - The Enemies of Energy - (Verve Records)
 * 2001 - Kurt Rosenwinkel - The Next Step - (Verve Records)
 * 2002 - Jakob Dinesen / Kurt Rosenwinkel - Everything Will Be Alright - (Verve Records)
 * 2003 - Kurt Rosenwinkel - Heartcore - (Verve Records)
 * 2005 - Kurt Rosenwinkel - Deep Song - (Verve Records)
 * 2008 - Kurt Rosenwinkel - The Remedy: Live at the Village Vanguard - (Wommusic)
 * 2009 - Kurt Rosenwinkel Standards Trio - Reflections - (Wommusic)
 * 2010 - Kurt Rosenwinkel & OJM - Our Secret World - (Wommusic)
 * 2012 - Kurt Rosenwinkel - Star of Jupiter - (Wommusic)

Collaborator

 * 1994 - Human Feel - Scatter
 * 1994 - Human Feel - Welcome To Malpesta
 * 1995 - Human Feel - Speak To It
 * 2000 - Metta Quintet - Going To Meet The Man
 * 2007 - Human Feel - Galore

Sideman

 * 1990 - Mimmo Cafiero Quintet - Moon and Twenty Five
 * 1992 - Gary Burton - Six Pack
 * 1993 - Seamus Blake - The Call (Criss Cross Jazz 1094 CD)
 * 1994 - Mark Turner - Yam Yam (Criss Cross Jazz 1160 CD)
 * 1994 - Paul Motian - ''Paul Motian and the Electric Bebop Band (JMT)
 * 1995 - Once Blue - Once Blue
 * 1995 - Perico Sambeat - Ademuz
 * 1996 - Paul Motian and the Electric Bebop Band - Reincarnation of a Love Bird
 * 1996 - Paul Motian and the Electric Bebop Band - Flight of the Blue Jay
 * 1996 - Larry Goldings - Big Stuff
 * 1997 - Chris Cheek Quartet - I Wish I Knew
 * 1998 - Myron Walden - Like a Flower Seeking the Sun
 * 1998 - The Chris Potter Quartet - Vertigo
 * 1998 - Paul Motian and the Electric Bebop Band - Play Monk and Powell
 * 1998 - Mark Turner - In This World
 * 1998 - Jochen Rueckert - Introduction
 * 1999 - Seamus Blake - Stranger Things Have Happened
 * 1999 - George Colligan - Unresolved
 * 1999 - Jakob Dinesen Quartet - Around
 * 1999 - Chris Cheek - Vine
 * 1999 - Mark Turner - Ballad Session
 * 1999 - Marcy Playground - Shapeshifter
 * 1999 - Tim Hagans - Animation - Imagination
 * 1999 - Jill Seifers - The Waiting
 * 1999 - Brian Blade Fellowship - Perceptual
 * 2000 - Noah Becker - Where We Are
 * 2000 - Wax Poetic - Wax Poetic
 * 2000 - Danilo Pérez - Motherland
 * 2000 - Matthias Lupri Group - Same Time Twice
 * 2000 - Brian Blade Fellowship - Perceptual
 * 2001 - Rebecca Martin - Middlehope
 * 2001 - Matt Penman - The UnQuiet
 * 2001 - Barney McAll - Release the Day
 * 2001 - Mark Turner - Dharma Days
 * 2002 - Jorg Kaaij Quintet - Downtown Daze
 * 2002 - Kris Bauman Quartet feat. Kurt Rosenwinkel
 * 2002 - Phil Grenadier - Playful Intentions
 * 2003 - Eli Degibri Quintet - In the Beginning
 * 2003 - Perico Sambeat - Friendship
 * 2005 - Charlie Peacock - Love Press Ex-Curio
 * 2005 - Joshua Redman Elastic Band - Momentum
 * 2006 - Barney McAll - Mother of Dreams and Secrets
 * 2006 - Aaron Goldberg - Worlds
 * 2006 - Joel Miller - Mandala
 * 2006 - The Miles Donahue Quintet - In The Pocket
 * 2007 - Barney McAll - Flashbacks
 * 2007 - Charlier / Sourisse - Heritage
 * 2007 - Daniel Szabo Trio - Frictions
 * 2007 - Rebecca Martin - The Growing Season
 * 2008 - Brian Blade and the Fellowship Band - Season of Changes
 * 2008 - Jakob Bro - The Stars are All New Songs Vol.1
 * 2008 - Q-Tip - The Renaissance
 * 2009 - Brian Blade - Mama Rosa
 * 2009 - Roman Ott - Seeing People
 * 2009 - Jason Lindner - Now vs. Now
 * 2009 - Q-Tip - Kamaal/The Abstract
 * 2009 - Alain Apaloo's Apipo - Flood Gate
 * 2012 - Julian Shore - Filaments
 * 2012 - Donald Fagen - Sunken Condos

Arranger

 * 1999 - Guillermo Klein - Los Guachos II

Producer

 * 1997 - Chris Cheek Quartet - I Wish I Knew
 * 2007 - Rebecca Martin - The Growing Season

TV appearances

 * 2005 - SOLOS: the jazz sessions (Bravo! Canada)
 * 2009 - Appeared with The Roots and Questlove (Late Night with Jimmy Fallon on October 1, 2009)