Blessing
This was the first of Cuban pianist Gonzalo Rubalcaba's recordings to appear in the United States, and it's a stunning introduction to his work. He's more than ably supported by Charlie Haden and Jack DeJohnette, with Haden's fundamentalist approach to the bass acting as a secure anchor to Rubalcaba's frequent flights of virtuosity and DeJohnette's polyrhythmic approach. With his deep roots in the rhythmic language of Cuban music, Rubalcaba brings a subtle and complex pulse to even his most reflective moments at the keyboard. He's also rooted in some of the more adventurous paths that jazz took in the 1960s, as that stellar rhythm section would suggest. It shows in the original approaches that he finds to Coltrane's "Giant Steps," Bill Evans's "Blue in Green," and Ornette Coleman's "The Blessing."--Stuart Broomer