Kurt Rosenwinkel Group

Friday, Feb. 17, and Saturday, Feb. 18. 7:30 and 10:00 PM.

Regattabar at the Charles Hotel. $18.



Who needs college? Not Kurt Rosenwinkel.

In 1992, after spending two-and-a-half years studying jazz guitar at the Berklee School of Music, Rosenwinkel dropped out, leaving Boston for the greener pastures of international jazz stardom. This weekend, he returns to his college town—only this time he’ll be playing across the Charles in Cambridge’s Regattabar Jazz Club.

After leaving school, Rosenwinkel toured internationally with famed vibraphonist Gary Burton. He later joined Paul Motian’s Electric Bebop Band, where he flourished throughout the early 90s. Since then, Rosenwinkel has established himself as an original sound—not such an easy thing to do in a jazz scene crammed with guitarists and appraised by critics who claim that Pat Metheny and John Scofield have already closed the book on the instrument.

It helped that Rosenwinkel came to prominence at the same time a group of young New York musicians was getting ready to redefine the jazz idiom. Rosenwinkel earned his stripes by gigging with other young lions such as pianist Brad Mehldau and bassist Larry Grenadier, who would both go on to explore pop and rock compositions through jazz. Rosenwinkel hasn’t been as overtly subversive, but he has certainly expanded his genre’s outer limits. On each of his six albums as a leader, he has proved himself a more than capable composer, and his arrangements of standards shine as some of the most original modern treatments of age-old material.

Rosenwinkel’s playing is similarly elaborate, but startlingly passionate. He makes full use of the electric nature of his instrument, shredding dynamic solos that straddle the edge of jazz. Fans of Keith Jarrett will appreciate Rosenwinkel’s eccentric ability to vocalize while playing his instrument.

In the past, Rosenwinkel has worked with an impressive array of supporting sidemen (including former Tribe Called Quest frontman Q-Tip), and this weekend is no exception. Expect smart accompaniment from saxophonist Mark Turner, pianist Aaron Goldberg, bassist Joe Martin, and drummer Eric Harland when Rosenwinkel comes back to school.

—Jake G. Cohen