Jazz Articles about Gonzalo Rubalcaba

like 306

Ithamara Koorax: Love Dance: The Ballad Album

by Chris M. Slawecki
October 7, 2003

Ithamara Koorax has released several albums in Brazil and Japan, but Love Dance is only the second US album for this star from Rio, the follow-up to her debut Serenade in Blue.

With her unmistakable voice, Koorax sings English, Portuguese, and Spanish love songs composed by such masters as Antonio Carlos Jobim, Luiz Bonfá, Marcos Valle and Ivan Lins, plus songs by Claus Ogerman and Jurgen Friedrich (in German). Her voice manifests this diversity to its advantage: ...

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Pat Martino: Think Tank

by Clifford Allen
October 5, 2003

It is difficult to make mainstream jazz (hard bop, etc.) relevant in light of the subversion or destruction of its form that occurred over thirty years ago. But, as many improvisers proved, it was possible to make consistently engaging and advanced music in the hard bop idiom well after the innovations of Ornette and Cecil took hold, and though the case for it is a little tougher today, there are a number of musicians who have found something new to ...

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Charlie Haden: Nocturne

by Jim Santella
February 1, 2002

What do you hear in darkness? The little things? Sounds that go unnoticed during the day. Crickets, creaking hinges, softly purring machinery, the hum of automobile traffic, and perhaps a distant television or radio. Night creatures are everywhere; but you don't see them. You hear the same things they hear, though; and it helps you to concentrate on your work.

Charlie Haden's ballad album, Nocturne , follows from his love of film noir. Like his Quartet West, this ...

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Gonzalo Rubalcaba Trio: Supernova

by AAJ Staff
August 1, 2001

The title of Gonzalo Rubalcaba's latest trio effort bears heavy ironic overtones. While the heavenly flash of light makes regular appearances on Supernova, most of this disc consists of extremely well-grounded pieces with earthy flavors. Like it or not, every single piece here has an intense rhythmic focus. That emphasis on rhythm has been Rubalcaba's signature sound; he expands it here within a variety of moods and styles drawing from North American jazz just as well as traditional Cuban musical ...

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Gonzalo Rubalcaba: Supernova

by Mark Corroto
August 1, 2001

Cuban Pianist Gonzalo Rubalcaba burst onto the American jazz scene in the early 1990s with his over-caffeinated piano gymnastics. To be fair to the young performer, he had musical talent beyond his years, and with the State Departments restrictions on his appearances in the US he would squeeze an entire tour into one night’s concert. Since being allowed to move to the U.S. his music has relaxed, allowing him to develop at a somewhat sane pace.

He recorded Flying Colors, ...

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Gonzalo Rubalcaba: Inner Voyage

by C. Michael Bailey
October 1, 1999

Incandesence at Absolute Zero. Cuban Pianist Gonzalo Rubalcaba exploded onto the American Music Scene with his first Blue Note release Discovery: Live at Montreux (95478, 1990). The recording details Rubalcaba in an empathetic trio setting with Charlie Haden and Paul Motian. The resulting music was a molten virtuosity quickening all in its aural path. Nine years later finds Rubalcaba still with Blue Note releasing a set of performances that, while laid-back, are still potently luminescent.

Maturity. The playing and composition ...