Hamilton de Holanda & Gonzalo Rubalcaba: Collab

Collab, the duo album from Cuban jazz pianist Gonzalo Rubalcaba and Brazilian choro mandolinist Hamilton de Holanda, is a sparkling collaboration between two contemporary masters of rhythm and improvisation. On the wings of a finely calibrated beat and a pliable form, they present 11 selections, adding new harmonic hues to the familiar, stretching, fracturing and reconstituting the given. Their experiences and tastes are wide ranging and divergent, but they meet—seemingly effortlessly—on the Latin jazz corner.

Holanda composed the virtuosic "Mandalagh" for the session, adding two letters to the spelling of the title to represent the initials of the artists' first names. They perform it subtly, but with sparks flying. Brazilian harmonica ace Gabriel Grossi makes a simpático guest appearance on "Don't You Worry 'Bout a Thing," Stevie Wonder's 1973 son-influenced composition from (Innervisions, Tamla/Motown, 1973), while Joao Bosco steps in for a vocal take on his "Incompatibilidade de Gênios" (lyric by Aldir Blanc), which he sings with an ironic aplomb. Most of the other selections on the album were chosen from Holanda's and Rubalcaba's existing repertoires, tunes they have recorded and played as leaders and/or side musicians.

Charlie Haden's "Silence," which is explored ruminatively on Collab, has long been a favorite in Rubalcaba's discography. He has recorded it several times: with Haden and Paul Motian on a live date (The Montreal Tapes, Radio Canada, 1997), in 2006 (Solo, Blue Note) and on his 2015 Haden tribute, Charlie (5 Passion Records). "Transparence," another Rubalcaba original, was on Charlie as well, while his "Blues Lundvall" and "Yolanda Anas" first emerged on the composer's Inner Voyage (Blue Note, 1999).

Holanda's moody "Choro Fado" is rendered with a particular passion. The song made its debut on his Maxixe Samba Groove (Brasilianos, 2021), a track featuring the amazing Indian classical and world jazz singer Varijashree Venugopal, who sings and solos in solfège. In contrast, "Flying Chicken," a choro burner that Holanda penned in homage to his longtime friend and colleague Ricardo Frango, was the title cut of an album he released in 2023 with his trio, Thiago Rabello on drums and Salomão Soares at the piano (Flying Chicken, Sony Music). The bird achieves liftoff in Collab's duo setting as well.

Bosco's "Incompatibilidade de Gênios" is presented in two completely different guises on the album, exerting a gravitational force by virtue of the space it consumes (12 minutes all told) and as the only offering that has long been in the repertoires of each artist, separately. As for previous performances, an exciting live concert (ca. 2011) with Bosco, Rubalcaba, Ivan Lins and other Brazilian luminaries is available on YouTube. Holanda released it on a duo project with the composer (Canto da Praya, Deck, 2020) and, later, as a guest artist with the excellent vocal group Ordinarius on Blanc, their tribute to Blanc's lyrics (self-produced, 2022). As a quarantine salve, Holanda and Bosco put together "Desafio Canto da Praya," a little trio Zoom video (July 2020), covering the basic tracks themselves, issuing an open challenge via social media for soloists to sit in on the lead. Distinguished musicians from all over the world joined in, Venugopal among them. Her variation is especially wonderful.

The instrumental interpretation of "Incompatibilidade de Gênios" offered on Collab is superb, from Holanda's improvised solo introduction to the intricate comping they do for each other to their final upbeat accent (YouTube, below). The pair are perfectly attuned to one another, creating a seamless ebb and flow of time and tune. "Incompatibilidade de Gênios" translates as "incompatibility of types," but—as is evident throughout the release—this date it is all about compatibility.