(Jazz) Gonzalo Rubalcaba - [2006] Solo - 2006, APE (image + .cue), lossless

In recent recordings, Gonzalo Rubalcaba has reined in his considerable chops to pursue a
more introspective direction, and Solo is a natural step in this direction. As the title
hints, the recording finds Rubalcaba alone at his piano, ruminating. In this setting the
pianist is more introspective than ever, frequently using silence as his means of
expression. The only problem is, it doesn’t necessarily work.
Rubalcaba has always worn his Afro-Cuban influences on his sleeves. This album is no
different, with overt references in the song titles as well as in his playing. He plays a
mixture of almost equal parts originals, improvisations, and pieces by others which fit into
the overall theme of the album. And the mood often shifts, going from loud to soft, light to
dark at the drop of a hat.
But ultimately, this album fails because of its lack of entertainment value. There just
isn’t enough here to merit multiple listens. “Rezo” starts the disc off on a bright note,
creating more of an atmosphere than a song. “Quasar” continues on the right path with a
realization befitting its title. But while Rubalcaba may be making a strong statement here,
it falls on deaf ears due to its simple lack of a sound big enough to draw any attention to
it.
That is not to say that his playing is bad. Rubalcaba is in fine form. Great solo
pianists, however, are able to play intelligent music while also catering to the masses and
drawing people into what they are saying. Playing solo (on any instrument) is always an
extremely difficult task to accomplish that's only meant for the most creative of artists.
For now, Rubalcaba should develop his ideas in more conventional settings. He still has time
to become a great solo artist, and this writer has every confidence that he will.//David
Miller, allaboutjazz.com

Exact Audio Copy V0.99 prebeta 4 from 23. January 2008
EAC extraction logfile from 26. April 2008, 12:50
Gonzalo Rubalcaba / Solo
Used drive : SONY DVD-ROM DDU1615 Adapter: 0 ID: 0
Read mode : Secure
Utilize accurate stream : Yes
Defeat audio cache : Yes
Make use of C2 pointers : No
Read offset correction : 6
Overread into Lead-In and Lead-Out : No
Fill up missing offset samples with silence : Yes
Delete leading and trailing silent blocks : No
Null samples used in CRC calculations : No
Used interface : Native Win32 interface for Win NT & 2000
Used output format : Monkey's Audio Lossless Encoder v3.99 DLL
Sample format : Fast Lossless Compression
TOC of the extracted CD
Track | Start | Length | Start sector | End sector
---------------------------------------------------------
1 | 0:00.00 | 1:37.50 | 0 | 7324
2 | 1:37.50 | 6:49.72 | 7325 | 38071
3 | 8:27.47 | 3:40.70 | 38072 | 54641
4 | 12:08.42 | 3:26.10 | 54642 | 70101
5 | 15:34.52 | 1:06.70 | 70102 | 75121
6 | 16:41.47 | 2:59.60 | 75122 | 88606
7 | 19:41.32 | 2:44.60 | 88607 | 100966
8 | 22:26.17 | 3:41.38 | 100967 | 117579
9 | 26:07.55 | 2:44.30 | 117580 | 129909
10 | 28:52.10 | 1:38.57 | 129910 | 137316
11 | 30:30.67 | 2:27.38 | 137317 | 148379
12 | 32:58.30 | 7:06.67 | 148380 | 180396
13 | 40:05.22 | 5:39.55 | 180397 | 205876
14 | 45:45.02 | 5:15.05 | 205877 | 229506
15 | 51:00.07 | 4:13.45 | 229507 | 248526
Range status and errors
Selected range
Filename D:\-= Music Lossless =-\Jazz, Cool Jaz, Fusion\Gonzalo Rubalcaba\Gonzalo Rubalcaba - [2006] Solo\Gonzalo Rubalcaba - [2006] Solo.ape
Peak level 91.5 %
Range quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 4AA60C70
Copy CRC 4AA60C70
Copy OK
No errors occurred
End of status report