Flanked by his fellow countryman, Julio Barreto, on drums and Ron Carter, the most prolific double bassist of all time, he covered music from a staggering range of past legends. Miles Davis, Charlie Parker, Benny Golson, Charles Mingus, Bud Powell and more. It was a repertoire designed to please the crowd, but the Munich audience found in Rubalcaba much more than a talented interpreter that night – he was to lay the groundwork for modern Latin jazz pianists and his deftness of touch and inventive rhythmic and melodic marriages were already present in his playing.