THE 27th Jazz Plaza International Festival 2011 was a real celebration. Prominently featured in the festival was Gonzalito Rubalcaba, an international piano phenomenon.

Other eminent figures in the world of jazz included Arturo O’Farrill, Will Calhoun, and Kash Killion from the U.S., plus Neil Leonard (Berklee College of Music); the Laberinto del Caos group from Mexico; Indian Naad Braahan, Polish Mateuz Kolakowsky, the Japanese Nori Brothers, and the Austrian Triple Ace Trio.

Cuba was comprehensively represented by jazz singers and bands, among others, Roberto Fonseca, Rolando Luna, Aldo López Gavilán, Yasek Manzano, Julito Padrón, César López, the López-Nussa family, Bobby Carcassés, Frank Fernández, and Joaquín Betancourt and his Jazz Band.

The 2011 Festival was devoted to the concert tradition of symphonic music, reflecting its interrelation with jazz since the colonial period. In this context, one could recall the figures of H.C. Handy and Louis Moreau Gottschalk. Many world class symphonic musicians have crossed over to jazz, and even the Beatles, who made a total fusion.

However, the Festival also took on son, salsa and hot timba, with bands specialized in such rhythms, such as Habana D’Primera and NG La Banda, who launched its Flute Chamber Orchestra, mixing concert music and timba in a totally unique way.

Five venues different venues offered concerts were scheduled: café-theaters, the Coppelia parking lot, La Zorra y el Cuervo Club, Jazz Café, Casa del Habano and the Mella Theater Gardens, Plaza’s Casa de la Cultura and the Plaza América in Varadero.

A summary of the festival’s most interesting presentations has to include Ernán López-Nussa with Gaston Jewel and Enrique Pla, who reworked European classics and Cuban Ernesto Lecuona's jazz pieces, which included a "sacrilege" inspired by Chopin with the voice of Kelvis Ochoa (one has to popularize the classics).

Bobby Carcassés, a founder of the festival, presented a band made up of novices and veterans to offer a distinctive concert. Joaquín Betancourt and his Jazz Band also gave a stunning performance in the closing concert, which saw virtuoso pianist Frank Fernández demonstrate that he can play anything and do it well.

Running parallel to the Festival was the International Theoretical Colloquium with master classes given by Gonzalito Rubalcaba, Arturo O’Farrill, Hernán López-Nussa, Darsy Fernández and Danilo Orozco and including conference, video screenings and exchanges among jazz musicians, researchers and specialists.

Rubalcaba' s master class was an authentic demonstration of a talented musician's conceptual work interwoven with an amazing discipline. "I believe in discipline, it gives me the awareness needed and I enjoy it with pleasure. I train physically and mentally, he stated."

After 10 years without performing in Cuba, Gonzalito Rubalcaba was one of the Festival's main attractions. He is in fact one the world's greatest solo pianist, with 14 discs, 15 Grammy nominations and five Grammy awards by the age of 48.

At the Mella Theater, he introduced music from his latest CD Siglo XXI, a summary of his career. He has already left behind that virtuoso concept linked to speed, the urge to play many notes to impress the audience in the first 15 minutes. Now, he is searching "for quality of sound, the integral use of the piano, the management of dynamics, the study of balance, sound and musical structure and ensemble work with other musicians."

The Cuban artist shows great maturity in his performances, hitting unusual sounds not commonly found in jazz. He shows that he is perfectly trained and masters the techniques to excel in harmony, color and dynamics; he has the genuine touch talked about by Europeans.

At the end of Rubalcaba's concert, Harold López-Nussa commented to Granma International, "All music students, acclaimed performers, teachers and amateurs, keenly listened to Gonzalito's performance. It was like a class, a school. He is a maestro in the way he approaches music, the metric value, the diction, the exact measure and he has an impressive knowledge of the piano. Beyond his profound virtuosity, he is the creator of something new, a genuine avant garde who summarizes many years of experience. He has a general command of world music and a wide knowledge of popular music, and we aren’t used to listening to things like that, he leaves you speechless. He is in the major leagues; he is a giant everybody wants to hear to try new things in music. He's got us all hooked."

"I apply the concept of "inclusive art," Gonzalito revealed to this reporter at the end of his performance, "I look into very rich programs, my international agenda has provided me with a new vision, particularly through Dizzy Gillespie. The stage tells you where you are and I’m always involved in many long-term projects with musicians with different styles."