Japanese SHM-CD pressing. Universal. 2022.

It has been three years since Gonzalo Rubalcaba's last release, SUPERNOVA. Artists usually don't risk remaining out of the limelight for so long, but Rubalcaba is no ordinary jazz musician, and the inspired performances on PASEO, his latest as a leader for Blue Note, prove that the wait has ben well worth it.

Gonzalo Rubalcaba returns to center stage with the release of his first major label solo recording, simply entitled, SOLO. His ninth recording for Blue Note Records, SOLO, solidifies his position as one of the finest pianists of his, or any, generation.

Maestro Dongfeng Liu is back. And this time he brought a friend, mentor, and genius collaborator in Gonzalo Rubalcaba. In his 2018 ZOHO release China Caribe, Liu explored the music of the China and the Caribbean, a remarkable opus that awakened many not only to a new sound but fresh way of thinking. There is an often-overlooked history of Chinese immigrants coming to the Americas, including Cuba, stretching back to the nineteenth century. Liu's musical initiatives are vintage and at the vanguard. China Afro Cuba is indeed music at the frontline of composition and harmony but also interchange and friendship. There is an ancient Chinese saying, "Lofty mountains and flowing water meet a kindred spirit - and colorful clouds chasing the moon meet a bosom friend." It comes from a philosophical text written some 2,000 years ago. Liu believes the symbolism of this line represents his musical friendship with Rubalcaba. Indeed, Rubalcaba is one the greatest artists of his generation. What may seem like an unusual pairing - Cuban and Chinese musicians - is anything but. They flow together as kindred spirits. "We are two pianists having an exploratory and innovative musical conversation. We've made a non-traditional interpretation of traditional music," says Liu. Jasmine is a Chinese folk song which originates from the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty (1736 - 1795). It's well-known and interpreted widely in China. In this rendition, Liu invokes two versions to play the high and low parts simultaneously with slightly differing melodies, incorporating Bach-style polyphony. Rubalcaba enters with a well-performed Cuban son which may seem jarring, as if cultures colliding. Both artists rely on their significant jazz vocabulary to navigate as they would in a live performance, eventually returning to the main melody, which ends with gentle and lingering lines. Kangding Love Song is a veritable funk with alacrity. The groove sounds as if Jaco Pastorious is part of the session.