Gonzalo Rubalcaba

One of the most important figures of the nineties to emerge on the Afro-Cuban dance scene, Gonzalo Rubalcaba is a talented pianist capable of fusing the oddest bits and pieces of Cuban music with North American jazz tradition to create a new musical entity.

Born into a family of musicians in 1963, Rubalcaba began studying the classical piano at 8, fine tuning his skill on this instrument for the next 12 years, while playing in night clubs and bars in Havana.

In 1985 he was discovered by Dizzy Gillespie, and in 1986 he amazed with his presentation at the Havana Jazz Festival with a trío made up of North Americans Charlie Haden and Paul Motian, as well as himself. They urged him to perform at the Montreaux and Montreal Jazz Festivals and edit his first records with the Blue Note label, which made him a favorite among North American audiences. He exiled himself from Cuba in the mid-nineties, although he did not go directly to the United States.

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