_2002 Latin Grammy Award
_AMG Review:
For those who prefer their Latin jazz to lean a bit more heavily to the jazz side, Cuban pianist Gonzalo Rubalcaba ranks among the best of the modern composer/arrangers, with a style that pays tribute to the African, Caribbean, and European influences of his native country while updating them for today's jazz audience. Though nowhere near as traditional as, say, Buena Vista Social Club, Supernova is far more true to his Cuban heritage than anything he's recorded before, with compositions that run the gamut from cool and smooth to blazing hot. The opening "Supernova 1," for instance, unveils a complex, syncopated theme, then allows each member of the trio to strut their stuff before breaking it all down with dazzling stop-start time signatures that shift constantly. "El Cadete Constitucional" — a stately walk composed by Rubalcaba's grandfather a century ago, then rewritten as a silly children's song ("Be kind to your web-footed friends...") — is reinvented with a funky strut in its step, while straightforward ballads like "Alma Mia" help to show the nimble pianist's emotive range. This is a wonderful album of varying moods and textures, establishing Rubalcaba as one of the finest jazz artists of his generation. — Bret Love
_Amazon.com Review:
During his career, the talented Cuban-born, Florida-based pianist Gonzalo Rubalcaba has played with the greatest jazz stars, including Dizzy Gillespie, Joe Lovano, and Charlie Haden. This CD, featuring longtime band mate and drummer Ignacio Berroa, bassist Carlos Henriquez, and percussionists Luis and Robert Quintero, highlights his highly evolved take on North American swing, with its dashes of his island homeland's rich Afro-Cuban musical traditions. Rubalcaba's syncopated synthesis of Liszt, Chopin, Wynton Kelly, and the clave swings easily between Cuban and U.S. musical ports-of-call. The leader's two takes of the title composition demonstrate his ease at improvising at top speed in tricky binary and tertiary time signatures. He reincarnates the old Cuban boleros "Alma Mia" into the American ballad form, and he slips John Phillip Sousa's "Stars and Stripes Forever" into his grandfather's danzon, "El Cadete." The hit tune "El Manicero (The Peanut Vendor)" is reinvigorated by Berroa's mambo cross-rhythms, Henriquez's Big Apple bass lines, and Rubalcaba's terrific tumbao breakdowns. Gonzalo Rubalcaba plays piano like a drummer and on the synth-laden, drum-featured "Orem (Pray)" he also plays congas, showcasing another aspect of his groundbreaking creativity. --Eugene Holley Jr. |
