Kurt Rosenwinkel: The Next Step Band (Live at Smalls 1996)

This newly unearthed recording from the mid-90s captures the most influential guitarist of his generation during his longstanding residency at the intimate, subterranean Greenwich Village jazz club. With tenor saxophonist Mark Turner, bassist Ben Street, and drummer Jeff Ballard, Rosenwinkel’s crew reveals deep chemistry on six originals, highlighted by an indelible hookup between guitar and sax on the front line. The collection opens with Rosenwinkel’s richly appointed solo guitar intro to “A Shifting Design” before the full band kicks in at the 2:20 mark, then it’s off to the races with guitar-sax navigating the intricate head as Ballard underscores with swinging brushwork against Street’s deep-toned, dancing bass groove. Turner’s solo here shows why he was/is regarded as one of the most potent forces in a post-Michael Brecker age. The introspective “Use of Light” melds the guitarist’s use of false harmonics into the fabric of a lovely ballad carried by Turner’s warm tenor tones. He switches from guitar to piano on “The Next Step,” foreshadowing 2022’s Kurt Rosenwinkel Plays Piano by 26 years. And his gorgeous ballad “A Life Unfolds” further reveals his six-string virtuosity and harmonic daring as well as a gift for falsetto vocal accompaniment.