New Rosenwinkel Guitar, features his new Jim Soloway Guitar

[Navdeep_Singh]

Off the presses, interview with Kurt Rosenwinkel


*showcases his new guitar, the Jim Soloway, model, which he really digs a lot, but couldn’t’ tell you anything about the wood or guitar specifics. He doesn’t do deep dives on guitars, but studio/recording equipment? that he definitely knows a ton about. He said that classic rock studio gear is the gold standard, what transformers, studio compressors and tubes do to music. He doesn’t like to record like a jazz musician, one day in the studio, do a few takes, and then that’s it. He would love to spend weeks on recording-editing-mixing, like rock musicians do. That’s why he started his own label Even turning down ECM and Manfred Eicher (Manfred even offered him 10 days in the studio). He even started using analog tape to mix-down, even though he also uses Logic. He compares the digital to the tape, then.


*despite his love of modern composition and his diverse influences, he makes a principled defense of the Great American Songbook as the how to guide for every jazz musician. it’s something everyone has to know, extensively, to understand and navigate the language of jazz. Especially Charlie Parker.


*he had a kind of standard progression into music as a Gen Xer- from Kiss and Led Zeppelin, he stumbled onto to Spyrogyra, then a Steve Khan album. then Metheny and Scofield. then, finally listening to jazz radio in Philadelphia, the great jazz masters, from Coltrane to Monk to Ellington.


*He describes his basic methodology of solo guitar, and demonstrates a standard he loves to play, by Monk. If there’s one standard that’s overplayed, he feels it’s All the Things You Are.
*After decades of work and input, he is finally going to put out the Kurt Rosenwinkel guitar method book.

[Sleeko]

He's fabulous, very unique.

[grahambop]

Just started watching this late last night, really interesting. Had to go to bed so will finish watching today!

[Oscar67]

Just what he’s playing during this interview could fuel my learning curve for the next year. Great stuff.

(As a personal preference though, I do wish he’d make that guitar sound like a guitar. The muffled blanket sound isn’t my thing to begin with and his use of effects makes it really hard for me to listen to. Every note seems to be equally loud, no dynamics to speak of, it’s almost like a synth. Yikes! I’d love to hear that guitar plugged straight into a Deluxe.)

[grahambop]

Interesting that he says he often plays the Bach lute suites at home on a nylon-string guitar (but would never perform them in public).

[James W]

Interesting that he says he often plays the Bach lute suites at home on a nylon-string guitar (but would never perform them in public).

[Stoney]

I have a guitar that was my grandfather's and the my father's and now handed to me and I want to find out what year, make it is and the value for it now.

[joman50]

Now I can't "unhear" all of that. lol

[mheton]

I must admit, that I went through a Metheny, Scofield and Frisell phase. But seeing Kurt with Paul Motions Electric Bebop Band around 1995 and seeing him comp left me complete speechless ...

[Christian Miller]

I like that it sounds like Kurt.

I've been transcribing him recently, and I would say relatively little of his individual sound is in his pitch choices. I mean, there are certain things he seems to gravitate to - he likes whole tones, and unusual applications of pentatonics - but a lot of what he does is absolutely standard stuff, and yet it sounds like him and no-one else.

[DRS]

I was a little surprised that Ace was a big inspiration for a young Kurt. RIP Ace.
Good interview.
It's funny how Kurt knows nothing about his guitar ( brown wood, reddish wood) yet he knows so much about production and outboard gear.
Great player.

[grahambop]

I like his explanation of non-functional harmony: ‘it means it doesn’t work!’

[Jim Soloway]

I had no idea this was coming and I certainly didn't expect to see an old photo of me pop up in the middle of the video. That was kind of cool.

[Mick-7]

I had no idea this was coming and I certainly didn't expect to see an old photo of me pop up in the middle of the video. That was kind of cool.

Ah! Jim finally gets his 15 minutes - um, make it 15 seconds - of fame!

I like his explanation of non-functional harmony: ‘it means it doesn’t work!’

And guitar construction: "it's got a brown wood here, and a light colored wood, and reddish wood on the back."

[Christian Miller]

I like his explanation of non-functional harmony: ‘it means it doesn’t work!’

Hahaha


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[2bornot2bop]

22 years in Germany. He’s abandoned America. Can’t say I blame him.

[Mick-7]

I had no idea this was coming and I certainly didn't expect to see an old photo of me pop up in the middle of the video. That was kind of cool.

What I don't get, Jim, is that one of the main features of your guitars, as I understand it, is their resonant acoustic properties. But that becomes beside the point when you turn them into synth axes as Kurt has done. I mean, I thought the chord melody he played in the video sounded dreadful.

[mheton]

I thought the chord melody he played in the video sounded dreadful.

Interesting. Can you elaborate on this?

[Mick-7]

Interesting. Can you elaborate on this?

When he played Monk's Ruby My Dear, the chords sounded distorted and muddy, no note clarity. As Oscar67 said (but I'd remove the word "almost" from his last sentence) .....

I do wish he’d make that guitar sound like a guitar. The muffled blanket sound isn’t my thing to begin with and his use of effects makes it really hard for me to listen to. Every note seems to be equally loud, no dynamics to speak of, it’s almost like a synth.

[drbhrb]

Loved the interview, the playing, and the tone

[Jim Soloway]

What I don't get, Jim, is that one of the main features of your guitars, as I understand it, is their resonant acoustic properties. But that becomes beside the point when you turn them into synth axes as Kurt has done. I mean, I thought the chord melody he played in the video sounded dreadful.

Old habits die hard and he's been using those effects for a long time but there's lots of video of him playing this guitar with more natural clean tones and it sounds great.

[joman50]

sigh! These days it's just good to crotch over a guitar and play.

[Aiq]

Heard him @ Blues Alley. I have one of his books, open to any page, look at two staves, play through chords, read a couple of measures, two hours later…

[Herbie]

I must admit, that I went through a Metheny, Scofield and Frisell phase. But seeing Kurt with Paul Motions Electric Bebop Band around 1995 and seeing him comp left me complete speechless ...

Interesting. What in his comping was special? Chord voicings? Rhythms?

[mheton]

He used Drop 2 and Drop 3 voicings, of course, as well as Ninth-No-5th voicings, but what really impressed me was his use of quarter-tone voicings, 3-note clusters, and triad pairs at a tempo I had never seen before, sometimes combined with polyrhythms, mostly on the string sets A, D, G or D, G, B and G, B, E ...