DanMichael Reyes, Revive Music
At this point in their respective careers, Darren Barrett and Kurt Rosenwinkel serve as a bridge between up-and-coming musicians and the masters of old. Between the two of them, both men have studied and played alongside architects of this idiom while also leaving their mark and signature to rich tapestry of jazz. So whenever either of them set out to record standards you best believe that we’ll be listening intently with pen and paper eagerly taking notes.
Case in point is the pair’s work on the classic Dizzy Gillespie composition “Con Alma,” which serves as the opening track for Barrett’s most recent release Time For Romance: But Beautiful. The newest DB cut directly follows his 2017 effort The Opener where the Grammy-award winning trumpeter sought to combine traditional jazz instrumentation with lush synth pads. While Time For Romance: But Beautiful follows in its predecessor’s footsteps regarding the addition of synths to Barrett’s acoustic band, the new album takes a slightly different approach as Barrett seeks to interpret time-tested ballads. “My overall focus was to make a modern ballads recording of sounds of the past, present and future,” Barrett notes in a press release.
Backing him in the 8-track album are Takeru Saito on piano, bassist Youngchae Jong, Daniel Moreno behind the kit, Santiago Bosch on keyboards and synthesizers, and Judy Barrett on percussion. As mentioned, guitarist Kurt Rosenwinkel also makes an appearance via his beautiful unaccompanied solo guitar intro on “Con Alma.”
Rock your favorite pair of headphones and get into “Con Alma” from Darren Barrett’s Time For Romance: But Beautiful. Stream the album via Spotify.