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I'll admit it at the outset: The bassist on this recording is my son, 24 year-old, Matt Brewer. So, I'm sure, to a certain degree, I'm guilty of confirmation bias. However, I also believe that my many years as a jazz musician and music educator (I hold a doctorate in music composition and jazz pedagogy), act as an effective filter for my biases here.

With that qualification, I can say unequivocally that this music is great. All facets of composition, arranging, and improvising on the recording are extremely creative and brilliantly performed.

The deep and sometimes curiously convoluted grooves created by these players are compelling, indeed. And the Afro-Cuban rhythmic and melodic facets combined with contemporary swinging sensibilities are intertwined in what I would characterize as a "hip confluence". Or, if you will, a seamless unity of form, harmony, rhythm, and line.

Ethnic musical sources deeply suffuse the compositions on this recording. Yosvany Terry's compositions (he has three on this CD) are particularly diverse and inspiring in this regard. His efforts to hybridize those sources with the lineage of styles in the jazz "family tree" succeeds brilliantly.

But, unlike the more mannered efforts of lesser composers, Terry's compositions - from the fertile womb of his imagination - yield musical creations that emerge whole and free of contrivances. And that's not all: His saxophone playing is extremely engaging, too.

Alternatively, Matt Brewer's poignant composition (paradoxically titled, "Aspiring To Normalcy") expresses the inspiration of Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, and one of Matt's most helpful and influential mentors, the brilliant bassist, Jeff Johnson (active in the Seattle area at this writing). Notice also how Matt has carefully and consciously blended the influences of Chopin, Stravinsky, and Ravel on this beautiful ballad in 3/4 meter. Finally, Matt's superb bass lines and solos support and help to drive the music all at once. A great player by any standard, especially for one so young.

Trumpeter, Mike Rodriguez, plays with a beautiful sound. Gorgeous, really. And he uses that sound to light up the very hip melodic contours of his superb solos. And his time is great, too. Way deep in the pocket.

And take note: Drummer Marcus Gilmore provides an extremely sophisticated rhythmic palette of multi-layered dimensions for this music. He drives the time while engaged in a continuously sensitive interplay with all the players. And the very many ways that he subtly shapes the dynamics in this music is compelling, too. Big plus: He unceasingly hits a groove with authority and authenticity that, I'm sure, must make his grandfather, Roy Haynes, very proud and happy.

Of course, Gonzalo is brilliant, as usual. He is clearly one of the leading pianists in the world - in any style of music. His touch and his ability to shape dynamics on the instrument are inimitable - even uncanny at times. And his time? The best. Just great.

Ganzalo's one composition on this CD (Infantil) is a quirky and extremely clever piece of music that I'm sure Monk would have loved. I found myself grinning and chuckling as I listened. It's such a delight.

Gonzalo's gifts as an arranger are well-represented here, too, in his exquiste adaptation of Alejandro Garcia Cartula's Preludio Corto No. 2 for Piano (Tu Amor Era Falso). And the spirit of the original piece remains ever-present as the players interpret Ganzolo's re-conception of it with loving care and deep affection.

All the players on this CD are a joy to hear. Buy this CD and hear them soon. I believe you'll be listening repeatedly to these performances because they offer an abundance of musical ideas rich in implication and expressiveness.

This is one of the very best recent releases I've heard in the past year. I admire everything from Gonzalo, but some of it's hard work for me. This one is fun, in addition to being impressive. It's got the kind of fire that I loved in Hubbard's best playing. It reminds me in places of the kind of post-bop/hard bop/progressive jazz Herbie Hancock was doing on Blue Note in the 60s and more recently on his live album with Hargrove and Brecker. But to me it sounds even better than that. The rhythms are complex, but the beat is very strong, super funky on some tunes. There's less Cuban nostalgia here, more jazz modernism. And it's great to hear Gonzalo with an excellent horn section. The trumpet player reminds me in places of Hargrove, and the alto player reminds me in places of Garrett. But they do not sound like imitators. Not at all. They sound like masters. If anyone were to ask me for an example of the best that jazz has to offer I'd be happy to offer this one.

"Cuban-born pianist/ composer Gonzalo Rubalcaba's follow-up to the Latin jazz Grammy Award-winning "Supernova" finds him working in a quintet setting with Marcus Gilmore, Matt Brewer, Yosvany Terry and Mike Rodriguez.
These seven tunes share an impressionistic vibe within frameworks that suggest a good deal of improvisational latitude.
"Peace" is a sustained meditation between Rubalcaba and Brewer (acoustic bass) that soothes the ear and hooks the imagination in a most appealing fashion. "This Is It", at 12 minutes-plus, unfolds at a moderate tempo while affording the ensemble a vehicle for solos that offer a terrific variety of sonic textures.
Rubalcaba has gone more post-modern than Latin with "Avatar," and it's a praiseworthy project". --Philip Van Vleck
A former boy wonder from Cuba, originally billed as "Gonzalito", Rubalcaba is now in his early forties, working in New York and in full flower as a jazz pianist.
For Gonzalo Rubalcaba, making a new album is often fraught with difficulties. The process helped inspire the title of this album, "Avatar" (Blue Note), which according to Hindu religion, is the embodiment of a spiritual idea or force.
On "Avatar," Rubalcaba assembled four collaborators who are all part of the New York jazz scene, which adds a certain urban feel.
Fellow Cuban emigre Yosvany Terry contributed three compositions to an album that looks, feels and sounds very much like a Rubalcaba project, even though he's only credited with writing one piece.
The compositions on "Avatar" are as dynamic and subtly layered as any of Rubalcaba's work. His interaction with Rodríguez and Terry on the saxophonist's compositions "Looking in Retrospective", "Hip Side" and "This Is It" recapture the excitement of hard bop while sounding like something almost entirely new.
Whereas his exotic keyboard wizardry once bored listeners, pensive ballad performances (as in "Aspiring to Normalcy", by his bassist Matt Brewer, and "Peace", by Horace Silver) on this outstanding new album show that technique is now his servant rather than master.
And the quintet he leads is top-class.
Enjoy.
Supernova
Mi Sueño
Zamazu
Cymbals

I do not have much to add to the first review - the record is terrific. The music is very exiting, very unpredictible in the compositions, and with so much beautiful details left for the listener to discover during repeated listenings. You have to listen very closely to Gonzalos playing - much of the beauty of his sound lies in the almost muted details he does in between.

Go a get it!!

Ganzalo is a formidable pianist and first rate artist to my ears. He works in that higher place also familiar to Brad Mehldau, Keith Jarrett, and many others who enter the meta space where cause and effect create instantaneous change in consciousness with both players and listeners. Wiggy but true.

The most impressive factor in AVATAR is the superb playing from all the young musicians ,pianist GONZALVO RUBALCABA uses here .Special mention to bassist MATT BREWER and drummer MARCUS GILLMORE promising much more in the future.A very interesting MODERN JAZZ recording ,full of energy rythm ,strength, and robustness .