Cuban pianist and composer
Gonzalo Rubalcaba makes an autobiographical journey on
Paseo, a Spanish word that translates as "passage," "walk," and even "stroll." With a new generation of his
New Cuban Quintet that features drummer
Ignacio Berroa, soprano
Luis Felipe Lamoglia, and electric bassist
Jose Armando Gola,
Rubalcaba revisits the music of his historical and recorded past and comes out of the gate with swinging new conceptions of them in order to lay the foundation for new directions. His use of Cuban composer
Hilario Gonzales'
"Preludia en Conga No. 1" as a tribute is compelling. Here, utilizing electric keyboards, funky backdrops, and fascinating contrapuntal interaction between himself,
Gola, and
Lamoglia, he comes up with a commanding new case for "
fusion." Likewise, in revising his own
"Bottoms Up" and
"Sea Change," he offers startling rhythmic invention and tough, dense melodic solos that use
post-bop language for knotty dialogues between his acoustic and electric keyboards, with
Gola's bass as the catalyst for movement. The shimmering ostinato funkiness of the title track is another exercise in spiky melodic counterpoint between piano and bass, and the use of
folk forms on
"El Guerrillero" restates the Cuban
son as a shape-shifting exercise in complex front-line lyricism.
Paseo is a provocative recording, one that fans of
Rubalcaba's more fiery straight-up
jazz sessions may have some trouble with. But for those willing enough to take it on its own terms, it is yet another step forward into truly new territories of form,
improvisation, color, and
song as applied to the
jazz idiom.
Paseo is very fine indeed. ~ Thom Jurek
![Buena Vista Social Club [25th Anniversary Edition]](http://prodimage.images-bn.com/pimages/4050538672206_p0_v1_s90x140.jpg "Buena Vista Social Club [25th Anniversary Edition]")
