Label: 5Passion Records, 2022

Personnel - Gonzalo Rubalcaba: piano; Matt Brewer: bass; Eric Harland: drums.

Technically advanced, the Cuban-born pianist Gonzalo Rubalcaba boasts above-the-average rhythmic skills in front of the keyboard. Turning Point, the follow-up to Skyline (5Passion, 2021), signals the second installment in a trilogy of trios that intends to explore new sounds with different cohorts. Here, his Trio D’Eté features two other rhythmic experts, bassist Matt Brewer and drummer Eric Harland, with whom he worked on other occasions.

“Infantil”, a flourishing piece dedicated to the fusion guitar icon John McLaughlin, opens the program as a rhythmic mesh that includes swinging parts and multiple breaks in the flow. Influences of Latin, funk and straight-ahead jazz are condensed in the ideas that flow effortlessly from Rubalcaba’s fingers. From the beginning, Brewer’s big bass sound imposes the step, and the ever-responsive Harland extemporizes intermittently in a few bar exchanges with his colleagues.

Like the aforementioned number, which was included on the album Avatar (Blue Note, 2008), both “Otra Mirada” and “The Hard One” were previously recorded. Originally a bolero, the former is a bit extended and doesn’t appeal much to me, while the latter is a motivic, fluid, and staccato-charged piece with shades of Chick Corea and some Bartok and Stravinsky inspirations.

More meditative, and contrasting with the fervent swinging mechanisms of the short-lived “Turning I” and “Turning II”, “Ikú” is a mournful Yoruba-inspired dirge that turns out emotionally honest in its melodicism. It becomes more diffuse and energetic with the time, facilitating Harland’s (brushes/mallets) competence to stand out.

The disc ends with the brightly colored “Joy, Joie”, specifically written by Rubalcaba for this trio. It follows a simple AABA structure over which you'll find great piano playing and an exciting vamp that stimulates the drummer to create and extend elegant chops.

Favorite Tracks:
01 - Infantil ► 06 - The Hard One ► 07 - Joy, Joie

Label: 5Passion Records, 2021

Personnel - Gonzalo Rubalcaba: piano; Ron Carter: bass; Jack DeJohnette: drums.

On his newest trio album, Cuban-born piano maverick Gonzalo Rubalcaba reunites with the mentors of his youth, the bassist Ron Carter and the drummer Jack DeJohnette. The former associated himself to the pianist’s musical cause on the album Diz… (Somethin’ Else, 1994), while the latter appeared on Images (Somethin’ Else, 1991) and The Blessing (Somethin’ Else, 1991).

Skyline, the first installment of an intended trilogy to be delivered in the classic piano trio format, comprises two previously recorded pieces from each musician. The program is rounded out with two Cuban classics - Miguel Metamoros’ “Lagrimas Negras”, a romantic bolero-son which opens the disc displaying slick bass and crescendo piano solos, and Jose Antonio Mendez’s “Novia Mia”, an affecting, slow-moving bass-piano duet shed in exemplary moderation.

The Rubalcaba pieces feel somewhat modest when compared to the other tunes. They are “Promenade”, a dedication to Carter that doesn’t really stick out despite some fine stretches by DeJohnette, and “Siempre Maria”, a bolero with some ultimate groovy patterns, which was first recorded in 1992 for the album Suite 4 y 20 (Blue Note).

Carter gets the loose intro of his 1979-penned “Gipsy” underway, and then installs a walking bass motion occasionally adorned by impeccable glissandos and pedals that provides plenty of space to be filled by Rubalcaba. The pianist’s eloquent melodies never loses articulation and his speed of language is glaring. He complements them here by transient, crashing left-hand chunks.

The album closes with “RonJackRuba”, a spontaneous lilting exercise credited to the threesome, but before that we have DeJohnette’s numbers, “Silver Hollow” and “Ahmad the Terrible”. The former wafts delicately toward a beautiful, hypnotic waltzing cadence where the piano wraps around the bass and drums like a cocoon; the latter piece, which first appeared on the drummer’s Special Edition’s Album Album (ECM,1984), offers a somewhat arcane introduction before the theme kicks in with Brubeckian insinuation and rhythmic punch.

Not the best Rubalcaba we’ve heard, but a good Rubalcaba.

Favorite Tracks:
02 - Gipsy ► 03 - Silver Hollow ► 07 - Ahmad the Terrible