JAZZ MESSENGER
EVERY GENERATION OF jazz guitar has its magnet—that unique, new voice so powerful that its gravitational pull becomes unavoidable. Pat Metheny was the magnet for aspiring guitarists coming up from the late ’70s to early ’80s. Wes Montgomery and Jim Hall both exerted a profound pull on the previous generation of guitarists, including Metheny himself, and Charlie Christian’s influence was all-pervasive before Wes and Jim had come along.
Certainly one of the most influential jazz guitarists of the past 20 years has been Philadelphia-born Kurt Rosenwinkel. His impact can be felt throughout the country’s conservatories and music schools, and his signature warm-toned, reverb-drenched legato lines can be detected in the playing of several rising star guitarists. The Berklee College of Music grad apprenticed with vibraphonist Gary Burton, then joined drummercomposer Paul Motian’s Electric Bebop Band before coming to wider attention with his own releases as a leader on Verve Records, which include 2000’s , 2001’s and 2003’s genre-defying Q-Tip–produced (all of which paired him with kindred spirit and fellow virtuoso, tenor saxophonist Mark Turner). While 2008’s documented Rosenwinkel’s dynamic working quintet in a two-CD set from New York City’s hallowed Village Vanguard, his 2009 followup, , was
