Kurt Rosenwinkel – ‘The Next Step Band – Live at Smalls, 1996’

On this unearthed live recording, Heartcore records delivers a time capsule, transporting the listener to the heady days of 1990s live jazz in New York. Kurt Rosenwinkel delighted audiences every Tuesday during an eight-year residency at Smalls club. This extraordinary recording foreshadows Rosenwinkel’s now legendary fourth album The Next Step, released in 2001.

This live set consists of six cuts that would go on to become the heart of The Next Step. The players featured here are Rosenwinkel’s classic Next Step Band line-up of Mark Turner on tenor sax, Ben Street on bass and Jeff Ballard on drums. We’re also treated to the pianism of then Smalls regular Brad Mehldau.

The record kicks off with the classic track A Shifting Design, lengthier than on the studio album as it’s jammed-out past the nine-minute mark. Rosenwinkel kicks off proceedings with his evocative solo guitarwork. He deftly improvises around the main theme of the piece, before the rest of the band swing into action. It’s a captivating start to the set and one can only imagine the impact it had in the confines of the club on that night in 1996.

Elsewhere, the waltz of Zhivago has a gently lilting feel with Mark Tuner’s rousing sax work coming to the fore, weaving in and out of Rosenwinkel’s guitar lines. Like with many of these cuts, we’re treated to a jammed-out version that well surpasses the length of the studio rendition.

It’s a real treat to hear this this band in its prime extemporising around these pieces, which would go on to become the heart of one of the great modern jazz guitar albums. While the whole band is on extraordinary form, it is of course the incredible tonally varied guitarwork of Rosenwinkel that leaves an indelible imprint.

On the languorous and beautiful A Life Unfolds, the guitar once again kicks things off on its own, before the band eases in behind it. It’s a heartfelt and captivating moment on a record of real light and shade. The band moves between all out power and hushed reverie and back again many times throughout.

Use of Light is a glistening near eleven-minute piece that gently builds and develops as Rosenwinkel’s wandering guitar lines intersect with Turner’s sax.

It’s hard to pick standout tracks among such a solid record as this, but at a push, I’d have to name the title track as a personal highlight. It’s the longest piece here, coming in at just shy of twelve and half minutes. It’s a blistering cut that allows each instrumentalist to come to the fore.

Live albums can be of varying quality and merit, often only really adding something for the die-hard fan. In this case, that couldn’t be further from the truth. Here we get a crisp recording of an inspired performance. It’s also a live record that adds significantly to the experience and understanding of the original release.

The owner of Smalls, Mitch Borden stated that “Kurt Rosenwinkel’s band played with such dramatic fire that it consumed everyone present”. A recording will never quite catch the drama of a truly great live performance, but Next Step Band Live at Smalls 1996 gets about as close to that dramatic fire as you could hope for.

Both dyed-in-the-wool Rosenwinkel aficionados and those new to his work will appreciate an engaging and enveloping set that transports the listener back to a particular time for jazz in New York and to a legendary club on a Tuesday night – for what was clearly a magical evening. Highly recommended.

The Next Step Band Live at Smalls is released today 26 July 2024