KURT ROSENWINKEL & JEAN-PAUL BRODBECK

THE BRAHMS PROJECT

Heartcore Records

Kurt Rosenwinkel, guitar; Jean-Paul Brodbeck, piano; Lukas Traxel, acoustic bass; Jorge Rossy, drums.

With the blending of Swiss pianist, Jean-Paul Brodbeck and iconic American jazz guitarist, Kurt Rosenwinkel “The Brahms Project” was created. This album features ten arrangements by the Swiss pianist Brodbeck, reimagining some of the compositions of the legendary European composer Johannes Brahms.  It is often said that jazz is America’s classical art form.  This album certainly shows how easily and sweetly the jazz genre can be integrated into famous, legendary European classical music.  They mix, like brown sugar and butter.  The resulting dessert is delicious.

Opening with “Hungarian Dance No. 1” it’s Jean-Paul Brodbeck’s creative imagination in the orchestrations that allows the quartet to illuminate Brahms’ music.  Check out the original orchestrated Brahms composition in G Minor.

Now listen to the wonderful way this quartet adds contemporary hues and vivid color to the music.

The opening composition is driven by the beauty of Kurt Rosenwinkel’s guitar.  Brodbeck has captured the groove with his rhythmic arrangement and delivery.

The quartet continues by presenting “Intermezzo, Op. 117 and 118, No. 2.  These Brahms compositions spotlight the historic composer’s love of tempo changes and polyrhythms. Spurred by the drums of Jorge Rossy, Rosenwinkel takes us on a guitar excursion of this beautiful melody, with Brodbeck’s intricate chord changes on piano.  For the first time, Lukas Traxel takes an acoustic bass solo that sets the jazzy tone of this arrangement.  If you are not a classical music buff or a lover of Brahms, you might not have ever recognized this music as the classical composer’s compositions.  When Rossy lays down a funk drum to introduce Intermezzo, Op. 118, I am both surprised and pleased. The counter melodies on piano, played in a choppy, contemporary way, unwind the melody like a ball of yarn.  The music rolls across my listening room colorfully, oddly melodic and dissonant at the same time.

“Rhapsody, Op. 79, No. 1” sounds a bit like a fusion tune and the composition titled “Wiegenlied” is a song I recognize as the Brahm’s Lullabye. Another favorite was the familiar, “Hungarian Dance No. 5.”  I felt like this tune would have been the perfect one to ‘swing.’ It just has all the makings of a good swing jazz tune.  That’s the one thing I missed in this album.  The ‘Swing’ that sets jazz apart from all the rest.  However, on their closing tune, “Symphony No. 4-III Allegro giocoso” they stepped into an arrangement that was very Straight-ahead.  That was a nice flavor to exit on.

Reviewed by Dee Dee McNeil