KURT ROSENWINKEL
BIOGRAPHY
Kurt Rosenwinkel (born October 28, 1970) is an American jazz guitarist, keyboardist, composer, bandleader, producer, educator and record label owner.
A native of Philadelphia, Rosenwinkel attended the Philadelphia High School for the Creative and Performing Arts. He studied at Berklee College of Music for two and a half years before leaving in his third year to tour with Gary Burton, the dean of the school at the time. After moving to Brooklyn, he began performing with Human Feel, Paul Motian's Electric Bebop Band, Joe Henderson, and the Brian Blade Fellowship.
In 1995 he won the Composer's Award from the National Endowment for the Arts and was signed by Verve. Since then, he has played and recorded as a leader and sideman with Mark Turner, Brad Mehldau, Joel Frahm, and Brian Blade. He collaborated with Q-Tip, who co-produced his studio album Heartcore that includes bassist Ben Street, drummer Jeff Ballard, and saxophonist Mark Turner. He played guitar on Q-Tip's albums The Renaissance and Kamaal/The Abstract.
In 2008 The Remedy was released, recorded with saxophonist Mark Turner, pianist Aaron Goldberg, bassist Joe Martin, and drummer Eric Harland. On November 10, 2009, he released a trio recording, Standards Trio: Reflections, with bassist Eric Revis and drummer Eric Harland. On September 7, 2010, he released Kurt Rosenwinkel & OJM: Our Secret World and with OJM an 18-piece big band from Porto, Portugal. His album Stars of Jupiter was recorded with pianist Aaron Parks, bassist Eric Revis, and drummer Justin Faulkner. He is on the faculty at the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler.
In 2016, Rosenwinkel formed the independent music label Heartcore Records and began producing as well as performing. He self-produced his eleventh album, 2017's Caipi, and was involved as a producer and guitarist on Brazilian multi-instrumentalist Pedro Martin’s 2019 release Vox.
Amnesty International Ambassador of Conscience Award 2015 to Joan Baez and Ai Wei Wei.
