Cuban jazz pianist Gonzalo Rubalcaba is a musician of incredible gifts, his astonishing piano technique being complemented by an absolutely sinful sense of rhythm. Born into a musical family in Havana in 1963 (his grandfather was a bandleader and composer, his father a pianist), and discovered by Dizzy Gillespie in 1985, he has in the past worked with top-rank performers such as Chick Corea, Bill Evans and Charlie Haden. One of his multiple Grammy Award-winning albums is ‘Skyline’, recorded with Ron Carter and Jack DeJohnette – two more names to conjure with. His most recent production, meanwhile, is ‘Turning Point’, recorded (like ‘Skyline’) in 2018 but released on digital platforms in August 2022; it features bassist Matt Brewer and drummer Eric Harland.
In October 2022, Gonzalo Rubalcaba and singer Aimée Nuviola gave a memorable performance at the Zorlu Centre. In my blog on this concert, I said the following: ‘As for Mr Rubalcaba, his superb technique and his ability to produce sizzling improvisations, dashing up and down the keyboard in a dust-raising swirl, must surely place him among the world’s foremost jazz pianists.’ At the CRR on April 25 this year, he will be accompanied by Matt Brewer on double bass and Ernesto Simpson on drums.
Issue 66, December 2023
Turkey’s Centenary Issue
