Already, we’ve seen the blues and jazz genres enlivened by a series of out-of-nowhere surprises that included Little Feat, Wes Montgomery (yes, Wes Montgomery!) and Bonnie Raitt

New Music Monday arrives chock full of of new music-y goodness, with highly anticipated sides from Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Ralph Bowen, Squackett, Steve Smith and Vital Information

A gutsy blend of contemplative Evans/Tristano-informed piano excursions and these grease-popping Cuban jams, pianist Gonzalo Rubalcaba’s XXI Century takes us on a journey across time and cultures.

Intense and beautiful, Cuban pianist Gonzalo Rubalcaba’s new Fe’ … Faith, is this meditative wonder. Like the earth making its inevitable yearly circle, Rubalcaba returns time after time to themes and thoughts — but never approaches things exactly the same twice.

by Nick DeRiso Jazz guitarist Al Di Meola, the former teen prodigy in Return to Forever, accomplishes an uncommon thing here, making something out of a cover attempt at the Beatles’ “Strawberry Fields Forever.”

NICK DERISO: While Rubalcaba was making troubling (if not downright boneheaded) political decisions, he was also proving to be an inspiring (and sometimes downright thrilling) young pianist. Not long after Rubalcaba said the crippling Communist regime in his native Cuba wasn’t all that bad, after all — much to the consternation of expats like saxophonist Paquito D’Rivera — he issued [...]

NICK DERISO: Cuban sensation Gonzalo Rubalcaba entered the U.S. not yet a legend, but discovered by one, Dizzy Gillespie. Rubalcaba (very Corea, but with some Hancock mixed in) made a splashy debut on both the Blue Note and Messidor labels in the early 1990s — reinvigorating the Afro-Cuban jazz movement. But he didn’t actually make it to America until a [...]

by Nick DeRiso Capitol Records — under its Blue Note and World Pacific imprints — put out a much-needed overview of Cuban jazz a while back. From them emerged a new star: Showcased on both “El Jazz Cubano” (WP) and “Solo Piano” (BN) is the swinging magic of pianist Jesus “Chucho” Valdez. He’s featured both by himself and as the [...]