With
12 major recordings under his belt and at least 30 more
as special guest or sideman, we have come to know what to
expect from the playbook of Kurt Rosenwinkel, one of jazz’s
most influential guitarists during the past 20 years. He
has effectively continued the line of musical thought and
development pioneered by Pat Metheny. Like the latter, Rosenwinkel’s
undeniable gifts and versatility (he is a quick learner)
have allowed him to partner with many of today’s elite
musicians, and to familiarize himself with the many cross-currents
of jazz. And like Metheny, referring to his ground-breaking
vocal period that begins with Offramp and continues
into Still Life, there was a considerable delay
between his initial introduction to the Brazilian interval,
and getting down to the hard work of composing in that ever
so rich vein.
So
for the occasion of his 2017 Montreal
International Jazz Festival
concert at l’Astral, the last thing I expected was
an evening of original compositions inspired by the rhythms
and sea breezes of Brazil.
Sandals
and starlight
Cocktails and satellites
She likes to watch the waves at night
Till the morning bright (gamache/lewis)
The
evening was an homage to and highly personal take on a music
that is -- tango notwithstanding -- Latin America’s
greatest musical export. From the very first moments of
the concert, it became clear that Rosenwinkel would single-handedly
evolve the genre. That said, it should be mentioned right
off the top that if you had come for the pure, generic Brazilian
Songbook, you would have left somewhat disappointed, much
like flamenco purists, in the tradition of Manitas de Plata
and Sabicus, are invariably let down by the hybrid flamenco
of Jesse Cook and Ottmar Liebert.
Kurt
Rosenwinkel’s Caipi required ten years in
the making. It represents a radical departure from anything
he’s ever done. Whether he has self-consciously reinvented
himself or perspicaciously decided that composition is ultimately
more rewarding (challenging) than improvisation is beside
the point if every composer, more than anything else, wants
his music to survive the test of time.
Caipi,
unapologetically, dedicates itself to song, to the art of
composition, with only the smallest emphasis on improvisation
– which in the past has been Rosenwinkel’s stock
in trade. What distinguishes the compositions are the manner
in which they evolve, modulate: the sublime almost imperceptible
shifts are lateral – think of the ghostly meeting
of sky and sea in a Copacabana dawn. Rosenwinkel has listened
to the tone poems of Strauss and has watched the Zen master
pass through wall like light through mist. The music’s
lateral transitions, accompanied by a most unlikely combination
of commonplace voices that somehow speak to the transcendental,
take Brazilian music to a new place. As such, Caipi
is its own precedent and it may very well turn out to be
the last man standing when Kurt Rosenwinkel’s story
is finally told.
The
compositions are provocatively original and yet familiar.
Backed up by second guitarist/singer Pedro Martins and the
inventively empathetic Olivia Trummel on the ivories, both
solo musicians in their own right, Rosenwinkel has managed
to create an ambience that will appeal first to Brazilians
for whom sand and samba no longer answer to native angst
and ennui, and to disaffected Millenials everywhere caught
between the to-have and to-have-not dichotomy and the disembodied
escapist fare offered by the ever expanding digital universe.
Caipi
asks can you catch the wave, the vibe and leave the turmoil
and roiling behind for as long as the songs play and ask
to be played again and again: Caipi’s light
as a feather feel makes the case that gravity is powerless
against the pull of music. Rosenwinkel has taken the earthy,
skin-tingling Ipanema sound and turned it into the stuff
of levitation, or, (with a nod to The Michael of Hedges),
'arials without boundaries.'
The
soloing is almost beside the point and throughout Caipi
it is curiously underwhelming. Rosenwinkel retains his patent,
highly synthesized metallic sound and stays the course.
Since the compositions are so strong, they deserve equally
strong solos, the kind we associate with Santana, whose
hummable lead guitar improvs have become compositions in
their own right. Rosenwinkel shouldn’t allow himself
to be hamstrung by the unspoken tyranny that it is infra
dig, beneath the dignity of the improviser to repeat
a sequence of notes from one night to the next. So until
this is resolved, Caipi should be regarded as a
major accomplishment in progress, with the success of the
follow up very dependent on Rosenwinkel being able to summon
the necessary humility that ensures the further refining
and evolving of the music.
It’s
always a risk when an established, highly reputed musician
decides to go where he has never gone before. Rosenwinkel
deserves full marks for daring to create outside his comfort
zone, and -- categories be damned -- daring to be himself
in meticulously composed music that can be regarded as a
radiant criticism of everything he’s done in the past.
The
concert ended with ecstatic disKurteous, rip-tide applause.
