Rubén Gonzalez
Rubén González is best known to
the world outside Cuban
as the pianist with Buena Vista Social Club. But if you haven't heard
his solo album, 'introducing...Rubén González', trot off to
the records
store and check this man out. He has been called "A Cuban cross between
Thelonious Monk and Felix the Cat." If you are familiar with either, you
will know that this man's playing is full of life, curiosity, wisdom and
all things old and new. Being from Cuban Rubén was introduced to
music very
young and became popular in the 1940's, when musicians played just for the
love of the music. He comes from an era when piano players had to be able
to
be excellent sightreaders and record perfect on the first take. You can
hear all this man has accomplished as a musician and a human being from
the
very second he places his fingers on the keyboard. He was a living legend,
in that he brings all that is Cuban music to his fluid and eclectically,
jazz improvisations. Unfortunately, Ruben has passed on.
Cesar "Pupi" Pedroso is another amazing piano player.
In fact, I do not know one Cuban pianist who isn't, or at least on their
way
to being. It comes with the territory. Cuba has a system that provides
indepth musical education from the classical to Cuban folk. Cesar plays
with Juan Formell's Los VanVan, a group that began 30 years ago and is
going strong today. The style is from the "Charanga" style, founded in
Cuban "Son", and still today is evolving with the times. Some of their
recordings
Chucho Valdés is the
quintessential Cuban, jazz pianist. The son
of legendary Cuban pianist Bebo Valdés, Chucho began playing the
piano when he was three and by his 16th birthday was leading his own band.
While his father defected to the U.S. in 1960, Valdés stayed in his
homeland, forming first Orquesta Cubana de Musica Moderna (1967) and later
Irakere
(1973), which featured such lauded performers as Arturo Sandoval and
Paquito DŐRivera. In 1993, Blue Note Records released his highly regarded
Solo
Piano album. Since beginning to tour in the U.S. four years ago, Valds
has released two other well-received Blue Note albums as a leader (Bele
Bele
en La Habana in 1998 and Bryumba Palo Congo in 1999) as well as performed
and recorded with the All-Star Latin Jazz Ensemble and Roy
HargroveŐs Afro-Cuban jazz band Crisol. Chucho has now gone solo. His
music has reached the markets of the world and he constantly tours. A few
years back he became indocrinated in the Santeria belief and he appears to
have started
to work elements of this into his compositions.
Gonzalo Rubalcaba is in a class in his
own. Residing now in
Miami, this Cuban native brings a wealth of Cuban and classical knowledge
to his piano, from the young age of 8 years. But what he offers now is
reflective of his senstivity to Jazz as a idiom for overwhelming emotional
expression. Both his integrity and his skill are impossible to fake, and
at levels daunting
to imitate. He is a unique musician who transfers his feelings flawlessly
and leaves
the listener at his journey's door always wanting more. Among his
recordings are:
Danilo Perez is the man to see if you
happen to be frequenting a Jazz festival. He is not cuban, but I included him here,
because he plays in the Afro-Cuban, Jazz idiom. He was born in Panama and like his
peers, he was introduced to music,when he was a child, by his father, a
bandleader and singer. He was the musical director and pianist for