Word: rubalcaba
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...into the centerpiece of the album, "La Pasionaria." The most extended performance on the album at 14 minutes, it also is the most ambitious in its incorporation of diverse musical idioms. Another Haden original, the mellow "Silence," and an appealing version of Ornette Coleman's "The Blessing" pass before Rubalcaba and company leave the audience with an impressive, incendiary rendition of Miles Davis' "Solar...
Haden's trio with Geri Allen feels less like a vehicle for showcasing the pianist and more like a veteran, integrated combo--no surprise, since they had played and recorded together well prior to the engagement, unlike the group with Rubalcaba. Allen's set is also evenly divided between the compositions of Allen, Haden and Motian, while Rubalcaba's featured three Haden tunes and three standards...
Allen's playing is more difficult to grasp than Rubalcaba's--her playing is more harmonically complex and less predictable. She is also a less flashy player, although she possesses considerable technical agility. Her tendency to improvise relatively freely of bar downbeats, as well as her use of parallel octave lines and other mannerisms, suggest a strong Bill Evans influence. Her music flows a little more freely than Rubalcaba's, at least in these performances, and she introduces elements of chaos and abstract texture that the other trio never attempts...
Haden's elegant "First Song," are of a moreexploratory and less melodic vein than thosechosen by the Rubalcaba trio. Motian seems to bemore involved in Allen's trio, venturing into theforeground even when not soloing...
...Montreal concerts represent the way tributeconcerts should be done whenever possible: withthe active musical involvement of the artist beinghonored, and of his most distinguished colleagues.Either of the Montreal Tapes should notdisappoint; the one that is preferable is largelya matter of the listener's affinity for thedivergent piano styles of Rubalcaba and Allen