Kurt Rosenwinkel (USA, 1970) began studying jazz guitar at the age of twelve, when he enrolled at the Philadelphia High School for the Creative and Performing Arts, where he met other students who would go on to become renowned professional musicians, including jazz double bassist Christian McBride and Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson, the future drummer of the hip-hop group The Roots, with whom Rosenwinkel would collaborate many years later. The guitarist’s professional career began after he completed his studies at Berklee College of Music, when vibraphonist Gary Burton invited him to join his touring band. His move to New York in the mid-1990s enabled Rosenwinkel to broaden the scope of his collaborations, and the years that followed were marked by intense activity as a sideman for, among others, Paul Motian, Brian Blade, Joe Henderson, and Geri Allen.

Rosenwinkel made his recording debut as a bandleader in 1996 with the trio album East Coast Love Affair, featuring Avishai Cohen and Jorge Rossy. Since then, he has maintained a steady release schedule, consistently surrounded by some of the finest musicians in contemporary jazz, including Joshua Redman, Brad Mehldau, Eric Revis, and Jeff Ballard, among many others. His most recent release is The Brahms Project, co-led with Swiss pianist Jean-Paul Brodbeck. Kurt Rosenwinkel’s involvement with music extends beyond composition and performance to include the production and release of work by other artists, notably through his own independent label, Heartcore Records.

The musicians accompanying Kurt Rosenwinkel on his Guimarães Jazz debut include pianist Aaron Goldberg and double bassist Joe Martin, two members of the original lineup with whom the guitarist recorded The Remedy, which will serve as the theme and starting point for this concert’s exploration. Taking the places of Mark Turner and Eric Harland are saxophonist Seamus Blake and drummer Kendrick Scott, two highly regarded figures on today’s New York jazz scene who bring their own distinctive musical identities to the reinterpretation of Rosenwinkel’s compositions, at once cerebral and melodic.