In 1999, the multi-Grammy® Winner, pianist, and composer GONZALO RUBALCABA was selected by Piano & Keyboard Magazine as one of the great pianists of the 20th century, alongside figures such as Glenn Gould, Martha Argerich and Bill Evans. He has won three Grammys® and Four Latin Grammys, 21 Grammys nominations, he has been awarded the EMPIK Bestsellers prizes, “Palmarés”, awarded by the prestigious institution “Grand Prix De L’ACADEMIE DU JAZZ” and a “Les Victoires du Jazz”, all of which has established him as a creative force in the jazz world. In 2008 he was awarded the ASCAP Foundation “VANGUARD AWARD” for his work as a Composer and Pianist whose innovative and distinctive music is charting new directions in Jazz.
Gonzalo was born on May 27, 1963, into a musical family in Havana. His father, pianist, composer, and bandleader Guillermo Rubalcaba had also played in the orchestra of Enrique Jorrín, the creator of cha-cha-cha; his grandfather Jacobo Rubalcaba, was the composer of classic danzones, and his two brothers were also musicians. Gonzalo, a child prodigy who by the age of 6 was playing drums in his father’s orchestra, started his formal training two years later. He chose the piano as his main instrument to, as he once recalled, “just to please my mother.” He graduated from the Institute of Fine Arts in Havana with a degree in composition and by his mid- teens he was working as both drummer and pianist in the hotels, concert halls and jazz clubs of Havana. Following graduation, he stepped right into the life of the popular musician, touring Cuba, Europe, Africa and Asia with the fabled Orquesta Aragón and as a sideman in jazz groups and, beginning in 1984, leading his own Afro-Cuban jazz rock fusion band, “Grupo Proyecto.”
The encounters with Gillespie and, in 1986, with Charlie Haden and then Blue Note Records president, Bruce Lundvall, set the stage to finally showcase Rubalcaba ́s talent before jazz audiences in the United States. These years are documented in a series of recordings in Havana and Frankfurt, Germany, including three superb recordings with his Cuban Quartet on the German label Messidor: Mi Gran Pasión (1987), Live in Havana (1989) and Giraldilla (1990). Rubalcaba moved to the Dominican Republic in 1991 and settled in Miami in 1996.
His international recording career, which includes titles such as Discovery – Live at Montreux, Images– Live at Mt. Fuji, The Blessing, Suite 4 y 20, Rapsodia, Diz and Imagine – Gonzalo Rubalcaba in the USA, has garnered him 19 nominations including three Grammys and four Latin Grammys. He won Grammys for Nocturne (2001) and Land of the Sun (2004), two collections of Latin ballads and boleros recorded with bassist Charlie Haden and SKYLINE (2022), a reunion of old friends Ron Carter and Jack DeJohnette. He won Latin Grammys for Solo (2006), Supernova (2002), Live in Marciac (2022) with the singer Aymée Nuviola, and Vida- Omara (2023) – Omara Portuondo Album as a producer.
In 2010, Gonzalo founded 5Passion Records with the businessman Gary Galimidi, and since then, the label has not only released Rubalcaba’s latest recordings such as Fe (2011), XXI (2012), Volcan (2014), Live Faith (2015), the Latin Grammy nominated Suite Caminos (2015) and Charlie (2016), but also albums by artists such as Will Vinson, Ignacio Berroa, Yosvany Terry and many more. In addition to “5Passion Records”, Gonzalo joined the “Top Stop Music” record label family in 2020 to record/release the Grammy-nominated Viento y Tiempo live at Blue Note Tokyo with singer Aymée Nuviola. In 2020, his independent Record label 5Passion was restructured in partnership with the businessman Ariel López and released the album SKYLINE (2021). The album won the Grammy® Award in the category of Best Jazz Instrumental Album
(2022), with Rubalcaba becoming the first Latin American musician to do so as a leader in the Best Instrumental Jazz Album category.
Reflecting his interest in music education, Rubalcaba joined the faculty of the University of Miami’s Frost School of Music in 2015. In 2020, he founded his own academy (Rubalcademy), offering remote Masterclasses to musicians across the world. Another of his nominations was with singer, pop and soul music Jon Secada with the album SOLOS was for the 2021 Latin Grammy® Awards, under the Oleta Music record label.
In 2022, he won his last Latin Grammy for “Best Traditional Tropical Album” in the company of the incomparable singer Aymée Nuviola with the project Live in Marciac under his Record label 5Passion Records. In 2023 he was awarded in the category of Album of the Year, with the prestigious French award “Les Victoires du Jazz” together with saxophonist Pierrick Pédron with the album Pédron Rubalcaba. In the current year 2024 he had the honor of being awarded by the prestigious Jazz Institution “Académe du Jazz” to receive together with Pierrick Pédon the “Palmarés” – “Album of the year 2023” – with the album Pédron Rubalcaba- “Grand Prix De L’ACADEMIE DU JAZZ 2023 ”
His latest discography production, Borrowed Roses – piano Solo, (released by the record label “Top Stop Music”) has been highly admired by specialized critics, selected as one of “The best jazz albums of 2023” around the world. This virtuoso musician and considered one of the leading artists in Afro-Cuban jazz, has received worldwide acclaim from outlets such as the Wall Street Journal, NPR, Downbeat, the Chicago Tribune, New York Time, Jazz Life, Jazz Times, Jazziz, and others.