About this product

Product Identifiers

Record LabelCdb, CD Baby

UPC0736211743756

eBay Product ID (ePID)4046046849

Product Key Features

Release Year2011

FormatCD

GenreJazz

ArtistGonzalo Rubalcaba

Release TitleFe

Dimensions

Item Height0.40 in

Item Weight0.14 lb

Item Length5.55 in

Item Width4.88 in

Additional Product Features

Number of Tracks15

Number of Discs1

TracksDerivado Pt. 1, Maferefun Iya Lodde Me, Improvisation Pt. 2 (Based on Coltrane), Derivado Pt. 2, Con Alma Pt. 1, Preludio Corto #2 (Tu Amor Era Falso), Blue in Green Pt. 1, Oro, Joan, Joao, Yolanda Anas, Blue in Green Pt. 2, Con Alma Pt. 3, Improvisation Pt. 1 (Based on Coltrane), Derivado Pt. 3

NotesFÉ ... Faith, the premiere release from Gonzalo Rubalcaba on his newly founded independent 5Passion label, marks an important milestone in the career of one of contemporary music's most compelling artists. Boasting an imposing discography of more than 25 critically acclaimed albums as a leader (including a dozen choice dates for Blue Note) featuring the virtuoso pianist in the company of some of modern music's best players, it is Rubalcaba's distinctive keyboard work that is the consistent hallmark of his prodigious talent. On FÉ ... Faith his incomparable sound, pristinely recorded and mastered, comes to the fore in the creation of a truly impressive solo outing. Guided by a long abiding faith in the Creator that has persistently informed his life, Rubalcaba has produced a masterful work that is simultaneously introspective and universal in it's expression of his mind, heart and soul. His profound belief "that we are all one, one with each other and one with God regardless of what we call Him or Her" significantly informs his approach to music, which seeks to expunge the divisions between the jazz, classical and popular genres that are essentially the product of ultimately inconsequential labels. Drawing upon a wealth of musical experiences that includes conservatory training in his native Cuba and countless appearances on festival stages throughout the world, Rubalcaba here makes music of intense beauty that knows no earthly constraints in it's desire to reach a diversity of people. The fifteen tracks on FÉ ... Faith clearly demonstrate Rubalcaba's musical process, one in which the simple and the intricate are of equivalent importance to the deliverance of his message. The opening "Derivado 1" serves as a stirring ambient prelude to the music that follows, revealing the pianist's vibrant sound within a terse improvisation stemming from a fragment of the composition that follows - his "Maferefun Iya Lodde Me." On the Lucumi language titled song (praise be to the orisha Ochun) the pianist thoughtfully develops the lyrical rhythmiccadence of the sanctified three bata drum ensemble that is at the center of the sacred music of the Cuban Santeria religion. The spiritual character of thepiece is evident in the meditative mood that remains constant throughout it's harmonic evolution. Rubalcaba pays homage to John Coltrane with his bright "Improvisation 2 (based on Coltrane)." Utilizing the chord changes of tenor master's "Giant Steps" as a starting point, he runs through a gamut of rhythmic, harmonic and melodic variations that demonstrate his virtuoso technique while revealing a perceptive insight into the expansive nature of the oft-celebrated song, allowing him to summon myriad emotions from it's familiar notes. "Derivado 2" is a second, longer sound piece derived from a reharmonized fragment of "Maferefun Iya Lodde Me." Rubalcaba's intensely controlled sense of touch and his masterful command of the piano's pedals are on full display here as he utilizes silence, space and overtones to create an otherworldly atmosphere. Rubalcaba pays tribute to mentor Dizzy Gillespie on "Con Alma 1," the first of two readings of the trumpet master's classic song that the pianist first played as a duo with it's composer in concert in Cuba in 1985. Opening with ominously dark rhythmic chords in the piano's lower register, he promptly moves to instrument's middle to thoughtfully investigate the familiar melody, in accordance with it's title's English meaning, "with soul." "Preludio Corto # 2 (Tu amor era Falso)" by the 20th Century Cuban composer Alejandro Garcia Carturla, hearkens back to Rubalcaba's early conservatory training. Carturla, considered to be (along with and his contemporary Amadeo Roldán) one of the progenitors of modern Cuban symphonic music, eschewed the division between art music and popular music and often utilized indigenous AfroCuban rhythms in his pieces, thus making him an important lasting influence on Rubalcaba, w