December 23, 2003
Contact: Susan Gwynne
(805) 893-2098
e-mail: gwynne-s@sa.ucsb.edu

A terrific evening of jazz piano featuring the Marcus Roberts Trio and Gonzalo Rubalcaba comes to UCSB Campbell Hall

Summary Facts:

• Marcus Roberts Trio and Gonzalo Rubalcaba
• Pianist Marcus Roberts’ group is one of the hottest small combos in jazz
• Cuban piano sensation Gonzalo Rubalcaba is a Latin Grammy Award winner
• Rubalcaba’s solo set will precede the Roberts Trio’s “New Orleans Meets Harlem” program
• Sunday, January 25
• 7 pm / UCSB Campbell Hall
• General public: $40, $35 / UCSB students: $19, $16
• Tickets & Information: UCSB Arts & Lectures at (805) 893-3535

The Marcus Roberts Trio and Gonzalo Rubalcaba comprise the mind-blowing double bill of jazz on Sunday, January 25 at 7 pm at UCSB Campbell Hall. Gifted pianist Marcus Roberts combines ragtime, stride, swing and bebop into imaginative and hip jazz. His trio, featuring swinging bassist Roland Guerin and nimble drummer Jason Marsalis, will perform the program “New Orleans Meets Harlem,” a tribute to great pianists such as Jelly Roll Morton, Fats Waller and Duke Ellington. Time magazine writes, “Roberts demonstrates his technical virtuosity and passionate intelligence in impressive fashion. And yes, with soul.” Cuba-born piano sensation and Latin Grammy Award winner Gonzalo Rubalcaba matches his incomparable technique with groundbreaking creativity. He will perform a sure to be spectacular opening solo set. The Boston Globe enthuses, “Rubalcaba has become one of jazz’s most original voices.”

Marcus Roberts is one of the most versatile and creative jazz artists of his generation. Although known for his authoritative knowledge and command of early piano styles, perhaps what he does best is synthesize the history of American piano music, from the lilting ragtime of Scott Joplin to the rhythmic brilliance of Thelonious Monk. In 1982 at age nineteen he won the competition at the National Association of Jazz Educators convention and was heard by Wynton Marsalis, who eventually invited Roberts to join his quartet. Roberts maintained a busy touring schedule with Marsalis from 1985 to 1991, and appeared on virtually all the trumpeter’s jazz recordings made during that period.

Roberts continued to garner several awards, including the first prize at the first Thelonious Monk International Jazz Competition in 1987. He recorded six albums before signing with Columbia early in 1994. During this time, he enjoyed the distinction of being the first jazz musician to have his first three recordings reach No. 1 on Billboard’s traditional jazz chart.

Roberts’ most recent release is Cole After Midnight, a clever and exciting tribute to Nat King Cole and Cole Porter released by Sony in 2001. Naming the disc one of his favorite little-known albums of the year, New York Times critic Ben Ratliff wrote: “Perhaps no other jazz musician inhabits the space between the music our grandparents called jazz and bold, bullish art-music as comfortably as the pianist Marcus Roberts. If his recent albums aren’t getting noticed now, it may be because they hold too many ideas.”

Gonzalo Rubalcaba is not just an ambitious keyboardist and accomplished composer but a captivating performer. He’s had nearly 20 years experience leading eclectically electric and acoustic ensembles on tours of international concert halls, elite music clubs and prestigious festivals ranging from Mount Fuji to Montreux, Switzerland to Jazz at Lincoln Center. A teenage prodigy, he was just 20 when he toured Europe and Africa with Cuba’s esteemed big band Orquesta Aragon. Rubalcaba quickly gained renown among aficionados and by the ‘90s had strong ties with Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Haden, Jack DeJohnette and Joe Lovano, among others. Rubalcaba lived for six years in the Dominican Republic before moving to Coral Springs, Florida, where he currently lives with his family.

Rubalcaba has primarily recorded for Blue Note Records, which has released eleven of his CDs. One of those discs—Supernova—won a 2002 Latin Grammy for Jazz Album of the Year, the same year he shared with legendary bassist Charlie Haden a Grammy for co-production of Nocturne, their highly-acclaimed Verve release of Cuban and Mexican boleros and ballads. Rubalcaba has to his credit eight Grammy nominations, including three others for Jazz Album of the Year (Rapsodia in 1995, Antiguo and Inner Voyage in 1999). He is so masterful that the Houston Press asserts, “An envious Herbie Hancock once joked that he wanted to break his more skilled rival Gonzalo Rubalcaba’s fingers, or at the very least, encase them in cement.”

Marcus Roberts will also take part in an extensive residency while visiting the South Coast from January 25-January 28. This outreach will include: workshops with the UCSB Jazz Ensemble and the Lompoc, Dos Pueblos, Santa Barbara and San Marcos High Schools Jazz Ensembles; assemblies for MacKenzie Junior High School at the Theater Royal in Guadalupe and for Santa Barbara Junior High School at the Marjorie Luke Theatre; and a free performance for Guadalupe families. This residency is generously supported by the Santa Barbara Bowl Foundation SAGE program and the Marjorie Luke Theatre.

UCSB Arts & Lectures previously presented the Marcus Roberts Trio in May 1999.

The Marcus Roberts Trio and Gonzalo Rubalcaba are presented by UCSB Arts & Lectures and sponsored by KCBX Public Radio, the Ramada Inn and Borders Books. Their residency will receive support from the Washington State Arts Commission; WESTAF, the Western States Arts Federation; and the National Endowment for the Arts. Tickets are $40 and $35 for the general public and $19 and $16 for UCSB students.

For tickets or more information,
call UCSB Arts & Lectures at (805) 893-3535.

Editor: For photos, please call
Susan Gwynne at (805) 893-2098.