Gonzalo Rubalcaba Quintet

Barcelona Jazz Festival in Sant Cugat.

Sit close to Mr. Rubalcaba, because he has a tendency to load the music with tension by playing complex passages quietly, using dark, dense harmony; the delicacy of his touch makes it seem as if he were pulling notes out of the piano rather than pushing them in. At one point […], he showed what he was once famous for: blinding speed in forthright rhythm. But normally he was running in the other direction, toward slow tempos, an almost self-erasing softness and a kind of improvisation that crisply and deliberately kept its distance from the beat. ...

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Barcelona Jazz Festival in Sant Cugat.

Sit close to Mr. Rubalcaba, because he has a tendency to load the music with tension by playing complex passages quietly, using dark, dense harmony; the delicacy of his touch makes it seem as if he were pulling notes out of the piano rather than pushing them in. At one point […], he showed what he was once famous for: blinding speed in forthright rhythm. But normally he was running in the other direction, toward slow tempos, an almost self-erasing softness and a kind of improvisation that crisply and deliberately kept its distance from the beat.

Ben Ratliff 'The New York Times'

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