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Rubalcaba
the new face of Latin jazz
By Fred Crafts, The
Register-Guard. December 5, 2003.
Cuban jazz pianist Gonzalo Rubalcaba has
a new home, a new country and a new way
of doing things.
"For many years, there's been a prototype
and a form to do Latin music. Personally,
I am tired of the way to make that music,"
he says by phone from his home in Coral
Springs, Fla.
"I'm trying to change that way. To
me, this is music that is very deep but
needs to change, to move in a new direction."
Born into one of Cuba's most prestigious
musical families, Rubalcaba had by early
adulthood assimilated just about every popular,
jazz and classical style imaginable.
He wanted to do more with the music of
his roots than the traditionalists in his
homeland would accept.
So he decided to move on. Aligned at the
time with the German record company Messidor,
he let practicality rule his thoughts, intending
to move closer to the home office in Frankfurt.
But in 1988, Messidor moved to the Dominican
Republic. So Rubalcaba went there.
His fame grew, and in 1989 Dizzy Gillespie
invited him to play with his group in the
United States. But Rubalcaba could not get
an American visa.
Stymied by paperwork, he had to turn down
other invitations as well.
When Gillespie died in 1993, Rubalcaba
finally was able to visit the United States,
but only to attend the funeral, not to perform.
Meanwhile, Rubalcaba was playing at top
concert halls, jazz clubs and music festivals
around the world with American musicians
such as Chick Corea, Herbie Hancock, Ron
Carter, John Patitucci and Jack DeJohnette.
America seemed his logical next stop.
In 1995, Rubalcaba was signed by the American
giant Blue Note Records, a move that opened
up everything.
Since he arrived in the United States as
a performer in November 1996, Rubalcaba
has stunned the jazz world with his blazing
piano technique and inventive reinterpretations
of Latin jazz.
So far, he has recorded 11 albums for Blue
Note. His album "Supernova" won
a Latin Grammy for jazz album of the year
in 2002, and he won a Grammy for co-production
with Charlie Haden of "Nocturne,"
a Verve release of Cuban and Mexican boleros
and ballads.
Altogether, Rubalcaba has eight Grammy
nominations, including four for jazz album
of the year (for "Rapsoida" in
1995, "Antiguo" and "Inner
Voyage" in 1999, and "Supernova").
Now 40, Rubalcaba will play selections
Saturday from the albums "Supernova"
and "Inner Voyage," plus new material
he is preparing to record in January - in
a trio with bassist Armando Gola and drummer
Ignacio Berroa - at the John G. Shedd Institute
for the Arts.
The concert is part of the Oregon Festival
of American Music's Now Hear This series.
A life steeped in music
Rubalcaba is a prime ex- ample of a man
on a mission.
Growing up, he was sur- rounded by music.
His father helped introduce the world to
the cha-cha-cha and still leads Charanga
Rubalcaba. His grandfather composed the
processional "El Cadete." Musicians
frequently played at his home.
A prodigy, Rubalcaba attended Havana's
Institute of Fine Arts in the early 1980s.
He studied classical genres as well, learning
not only European traditions but Latin American
classical music.
Meanwhile, he soaked up American jazz styles
by lis- tening to his father's recordings
of such Big Band-era legends as Gene Krupa,
Jimmy Dorsey, Bud Powell and Benny Good-
man. He tuned in to a late-night radio station
that played records by Charlie Parker, Powell,
Thelonoius Monk, Duke Ellington and Art
Tatum.
It was a strong foundation, but none of
the recordings was newer than the late 1950s.
In 1980, Rubalcaba toured France and Africa
with Or- questa Aragon. In 1985, he took
his Group Projecto to the North Sea and
Berlin Jazz Festivals. In 1990, he performed
with Haden and Paul Motian at the Montreux
Jazz Festival.
Even as a teenager, Rubal- caba saw he
could use all his musical training in a
new way.
He says that moving to the United States
has accelerated the process.
"The first thought I had when I got
here was to try to see with my eyes, see
the musi- cians, be part of projects here
with musicians and promote my conception
of music. It has been wonderful."
But it also has had its frus- trations.
"Nothing's perfect," he says.
"The first year here was really hard
to get involved in the business section
of the music. After that, things became,
day by day, normal and better."
Rubalcaba is in the forefront of a vanguard
of musicians dedicated to changing the face
of Latin jazz.
"Even though we are not too popular
yet," he says, "we are really
working to change a little bit our music
by putting together our tradition with the
jazz idiom or other types of music around
the world. Why? Well, maybe because we are
the beginning generation and we have the
mission to do this."
Being on a mission is nothing new to Rubalcaba.
"I was doing that in Cuba when I was
living there," he says. "It is
something I have clear in my mind since
I was 14 or 15 years old. That's something
I tried to do in Cuba, and we are doing
that here.
"We will be doing that till the end
of our lives. I see that this is what we
have to do."
CONCERT PREVIEW
Gonzalo Rubalcaba Trio
What: Cuban jazz pianist plays selections
from his albums
When: 7:30 p.m. Saturday
Where: Shedd Institute for the Arts, 285
E. Broadway
Tickets: $13.50 to $29.50 through the Oregon
Festival of American Music box office, 687-6526
Copyright 2003 The Register-Guard
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