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