Gonzalo Rubalcaba

Gonzalo Rubalcaba (born May 27, 1963) is a Cuban jazz pianist and composer.^[1][2]

Gonzalo Rubalcaba
Rubalcaba at the Miami International Film Festival in 2015
Background information
Born	(1963-05-27) May 27, 1963 (age 61) Havana, Cuba
Genres	Jazz, Latin jazz, Afro-Cuban jazz, jazz fusion, classical
Occupation(s)	Musician, composer
Instrument	Piano
Years active	1983–present
Labels	5passion.com
Website	gonzalorubalcaba.com

Early life

Rubalcaba was born Gonzalo Julio González Fonseca in Havana, Cuba into a musical family. He adopted his great grandmother's name for professional use, just as did his father Guillermo Rubalcaba (born Guillermo González Camejo) and his grandfather Jacobo Rubalcaba (born Jacobo González Rubalcaba).^[3]

Later life and career

With Orquesta Aragón, Rubalcaba toured France and Africa in 1983. He formed his own Grupo Projecto in 1985.^[1]

Discography

As leader/co-leader

• Mi Gran Pasion (Connector/Timba, 1987)
• Live in Havana (Pimienta, 1989)
• Giraldilla (Pimienta, 1990)
• Discovery: Live at Montreux (Blue Note, 1990)
• Gonzalo Rubalcaba Trio at Montreux (Somethin' Else, 1990)
• The Blessing (Blue Note, 1991)
• Images (Blue Note, 1992)
• At Montreux (Artex, 1993)
• Suite 4 Y 20 (Blue Note, 1993)
• Diz (Blue Note, 1993)
• Rapsodia (Blue Note, 1994)
• Imagine: Live in America (Blue Note, 1994)
• Concatenacion (Egrem, 1995)
• Concierto Negro (Egrem, 1995)
• Flying Colors (Blue Note, 1997)
• Romantic (EMI, 1998)
• Gonzalo Rubalcaba (Max, 1998)
• Antiguo (Blue Note, 1998)
• Inner Voyage (Blue Note/EMI, 1999)
• Inicio (Egrem, 2001)
• Supernova (Blue Note, 2001)
• Straight Ahead (Yemaya, 2003)
• Soneros de Verdad Present Rubalcaba Pasado y Presente (Universal Music Latino/Pimienta, 2003)
• Paseo (Blue Note, 2004)
• The Trio (Angel, 2005)
• Solo (Blue Note, 2005)
• Avatar (Angel, 2008)
• Faith (5Passion, 2010)
• XXI Century (5Passion, 2011)
• Live Faith (5Passion, 2014)
• Suite Caminos (5Passion, 2015)
• Tokyo Adagio with Charlie Haden (Impulse!, 2015) – recorded in 2005
• Charlie (5Passion, 2015)^[4]
• Skyline with Ron Carter, Jack DeJohnette (5Passion, 2021)^[5]
• Pédron Rubalcaba with Pierrick Pédron (mars 2023)
• Borrowed Roses (Top Stop, 2023)^[6]

As sideman

With Ignacio Berroa

• Codes (Blue Note, 2006)

With Ron Carter

• Mr. Bow-tie (Somethin' Else, 1995)

With Juan Luis Guerra

• Bachata Rosa (Karen, 1990)

With Francisco Céspedes

• Con el Permiso de Bola (Warner Music Mexico, 2006)

With Chick Corea

• Rendezvous in New York (Stretch, 2003)

With Dave Holland

• The Monterey Quartet: Live at the 2007 Monterey Jazz Festival (Monterey Jazz Festival, 2009)

With Al Di Meola

• Pursuit of Radical Rhapsody (Concord, 2011)
• Flesh on Flesh (Telarc, 2022)

With Richard Galliano

• Love Day (Milan, 2008)

With Charlie Haden

• 1989: The Montreal Tapes: with Gonzalo Rubalcaba and Paul Motian (Verve, 1997)
• 2000: Nocturne (Verve, 2001)
• 2003: Land of the Sun (Verve, 2004)
• 2005: Tokyo Adagio (Impulse!, 2015) – live at The Blue Note, Tokyo, Japan

With Katia Labèque

• Shape of My Heart (KML, 2009)

With Tony Martinez

• Habana Vive
• Mafarefun

With Pat Martino

• Think Tank

With Strat Andriotis

• Night Manager (2018) Song 21

• Cuba portal

Awards

Grammy Awards

Year	Nominee / work	Award	Result
1995	Rapsodia	Best Jazz Instrumental Performance, Individual or Group[7]	Nominated
1997	"Agua de Beber"	Best Jazz Instrumental Solo[7][8]	Nominated
2000	Antiguo	Best Latin Jazz Album[9]	Nominated
2002	Supernova	Best Latin Jazz Album[10]	Nominated
2002	Nocturne (as producer)	Best Latin Jazz Album[11]	Won
2002	"Oren"	Best Instrumental Composition[12]	Nominated
2005	Land of the Sun (as producer)	Best Latin Jazz Album[13]	Won
2016	Suite Caminos	Best Latin Jazz Album[14]	Nominated
2021	Viento y Tiempo - Live at Blue Note Tokyo	Best Latin Jazz Album[15]	Nominated
2022	Skyline	Best Jazz Instrumental Album[16]	Won

Billboard Music Awards

Year	Nominee / work	Award	Result
2002	Supernova	Latin Jazz Album of the Year[17]	Nominated
2007	Solo	Latin Jazz Album of the Year[18]	Nominated

Latin Grammy Awards

Year	Nominee / work	Award	Result
2002	Supernova	Best Latin Jazz Album[19]	Won
2005	Paseo	Best Instrumental Album[20]	Nominated
2006	Solo	Best Latin Jazz Album[21]	Won
2008	Avatar	Best Instrumental Album[22]	Nominated
2022	Live in Marciac	Best Tropical Traditional Album[23]	Won

References

1. Huey, Steve. "Gonzalo Rubalcaba". AllMusic. Retrieved 19 July 2018.
2. Bouchard, Fred (April 1996). Gonzalo Rubalcaba: Imagine. JazzTimes. pp. 72–. Retrieved 18 July 2018. Gonzalo Rubalcaba, now barely 33, has shown world audiences from Montreux to Toronto to Tokyo his extraordinary heady cocktail of Oscar Peterson, Chucho Valdez and McCoy Tyner and Franz Liszt.
3. Rubalcaba, Gonzalo (Gonzalo Julio Gonzalez Fonseca) Archived 2015-09-05 at the Wayback Machine. Encyclopedia of Jazz Musicians. Retrieved on July 31, 2015.
4. "Gonzalo Rubalcaba". AllMusic. Retrieved 19 July 2018.
5. "Skyline". 5 Passion.
6. McDonough, John (December 2023). "Gonzalo Rubalcaba: Borrowed Roses". DownBeat. Vol. 90, no. 12. p. 56.
7. "Grammy Award Results for Gonzalo Rubalcaba". Grammy.com. Retrieved November 27, 2020.
8. "The Complete List of Nominees". Los Angeles Times. January 8, 1997. Retrieved November 27, 2020.
9. "The Nominees for the Grammy Awards". San Francisco Chronicle. January 5, 2000. p. 3. Archived from the original on August 16, 2011. Retrieved November 4, 2010.
10. "Complete List Of Grammy Nominees". CBS News. January 4, 2002. Retrieved November 4, 2010.
11. "The 2002 Grammy winners". San Francisco Chronicle. February 28, 2002. p. 1. Retrieved November 3, 2010.
12. "Final Nominations for the 44th Annual Grammy Awards". Billboard. 114 (3). Nielsen Business Media, Inc.: 91. January 19, 2002. Retrieved April 12, 2013.
13. McDermott, Tricia (February 13, 2005). "2005 Grammy Award Winners". CBS News. Retrieved November 3, 2010.
14. "Grammy Awards: Complete Winners List". Variety. February 15, 2016. Retrieved November 27, 2020.
15. "2021 GRAMMYs: Complete Nominees List". Grammy.com. November 24, 2020. Retrieved November 27, 2020.
16. "2022 GRAMMYs: Complete Nominees List". Grammy.com. April 4, 2022. Retrieved April 7, 2022.
17. "2002 Billboard Latin Music Awards". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. 2002. Retrieved April 11, 2013.
18. "2007 Billboard Latin Music Awards Finalists". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. 2007. Retrieved April 16, 2013.
19. "The List of Winners". Los Angeles Times. September 19, 2002. Retrieved April 9, 2013.
20. "Complete list of 6th annual Latin Grammy nominations". USA Today. Gannett Company. November 2, 2005. Retrieved January 28, 2011.
21. "Latin Grammy awards Thursday". USA Today. Gannett Company. November 3, 2006. Retrieved April 20, 2013.
22. "9th Annual Latin Grammy Awards". Los Angeles Times. September 10, 2007. Archived from the original on October 26, 2012. Retrieved January 28, 2011.
23. "2022 Annual Latin Grammy awards". USA Tod. Grammy Academy Company. November 17, 2022. Retrieved November 17, 2022.

External links

• Official website