{"id":8458,"date":"2017-07-06T23:07:21","date_gmt":"2017-07-07T06:07:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/?p=8458"},"modified":"2017-07-07T14:09:51","modified_gmt":"2017-07-07T21:09:51","slug":"recent-listening-kurt-rosenwinkel-fanny-gunnarsson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/2017\/07\/recent-listening-kurt-rosenwinkel-fanny-gunnarsson\/","title":{"rendered":"Recent Listening: Kurt Rosenwinkel, Fanny Gunnarsson"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kurt Rosenwinkel<\/strong>, Caipi<\/a><\/em> (RAZDAZ Records)<\/p>\n

\"\"From his emergence in the 1990s, Rosenwinkel has been a relaxed guitar improviser even when negotiating the complex pieces that make him one of the most interesting composers at work today. He retains his leisurely approach to soloing in this collection, which is redolent with feelings and flavors of modern Brazilian music.<\/p>\n

Rosenwinkel\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s guitar solo on \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Chromatic B\u00e2\u20ac\u009d is a highlight. On that piece and several others he also plays piano, bass, drums, synthesizer and electric keyboard\u00e2\u20ac\u201dand sings. In comparison with the singing of Pedro Martins, who is captivating in the title song, vocal performance is not Rosenwinkel\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s strong suit. Martins is also impressive in \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Little b\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Summer Song\u00e2\u20ac\u009d (Rosenwinkel\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s composition, not Dave Brubeck\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s piece with the same title). Eric Clapton sits in as a guitar soloist on Rosenwinkel\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Little Dream.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Among several other guests, tenor saxophonist Mark Turner stands out on \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Casio Escher,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d as does vocalist Amanda Brecker. Chris Weisman\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s liner notes do not explain the meaning of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Casio Escher,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d or of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Casio Vanguard,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Little b\u00e2\u20ac\u009d or \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Caipi,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d the name of the album. The closest Portuguese word I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been able to find is \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Caipirinha,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d a Brazilian sugar cane brandy.<\/p>\n

But what\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s in a name? The music is what matters, and this Rosenwinkel album has substance as well as lighthearted consistency. The intriguing eccentricities of his adaptations, and his too-few guitar solos, honor the harmonic and rhythmic subtleties that came out of Brazil half a century ago and captivated the world.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Fanny Gunnarsson Quartet<\/strong>, Mirrors<\/a> Havtorn Records<\/p>\n

The Swedish pianist and singer Fanny Gunnarsson of the band ”\u00a0We Float, also leads her own quartet. Mirror<\/em>s<\/em> features Ms. Gunnarsson\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s vocals\"\" on her original songs, performed in flawless English. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Airplane,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d as an example, is a love song consisting of a vocal chorus by Ms. Gunnarsson that, in a minimalist achievement, tells a complete story. At the piano she then pursues an emphatic duet with the increasingly impressive soprano saxophonist Karolina Almgren.<\/p>\n

Ms. Almgren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s playing throughout has tonal and harmonic depth and an affecting Scandinavian melancholy. She is notably moving on the concluding slow pieces \u00e2\u20ac\u0153For Kerstin\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Shine\u00e2\u20ac\u009d (not the 1910 popular song, but a new one by Ms. Gunnarson). As in We Float, the bassist and drummer are Kristian Rimshult and Hannes Olbers. The title tune begins as a peaceful duet with Ms. Gunnarsson\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s piano and Ms. Almgren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s saxophone. Rumshult and Olbers enter so quietly as to be nearly unnoticeable, but the music swells into a sort of chorale with Ms. Gunnarsson\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s overdubbed voice powerful in two registers (or is it three?) before the song ends as tranquil as it began.<\/p>\n

This is an evolving band whose development is worth following.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

(Mirrors<\/em> appears to be available in the US only as a download. Havtorn Records indicates that physical copies may be ordered by sending an email message here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kurt Rosenwinkel, Caipi (RAZDAZ Records) From his emergence in the 1990s, Rosenwinkel has been a relaxed guitar improviser even when negotiating the complex pieces that make him one of the most interesting composers at work today. He retains his leisurely approach to soloing in this collection, which is redolent with feelings and flavors of modern […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":8460,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-8458","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-main","8":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8458","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8458"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8458\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8460"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8458"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8458"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8458"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}