Kurt Rosenwinkel

Born in Philadelphia in 1970, Kurt Rosenwinkel began studying piano at an early age before turning to jazz guitar. He attended the High School for the Creative and Performing Arts in his hometown and studied at Berklee, which he left to tour with Gary Burton. Settling later in Brooklyn, Rosenwinkel became part of the 1990s contemporary jazz scene alongside acts such as Human Feel, Paul Motian, Joe Henderson and Brian Blade, working in a vein where post‑bop, modern improvisation and more atmospheric colors intersect. His playing is distinguished by very legato lines, dense harmonic writing and a tone that blends lyricism, rhythmic tension and textures drawn from ambient, dub and hip‑hop aesthetics. As a leader he has released, among others, Intuit (1999), The Next Step (2001), Heartcore (2003, co‑produced with Q‑Tip), Deep Song (2005), The Remedy (2008), Star of Jupiter (2012) and Caipi (2017), an album in which his musical language opened further to Brazilian and pop influences. In parallel he has collaborated extensively with Mark Turner, Brad Mehldau, Joshua Redman, Q‑Tip and Geri Allen, founded the label Heartcore Records in 2016 and has developed a career as a producer and educator.