Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Chris Potter, Larry Grenadier, Eric Harland, First Meeting: Live at Dizzy’s Club Review

by Jeff Becker

Great ensemble playing reveals itself in how form and synced harmonic/melodic colors are discovered onstage. First Meeting: Live at Dizzy’s Club documents precisely that process. Gonzalo Rubalcaba interacts with harmonic continuity and rhythmic invention. Chris Potter is a saxophonist of relentless narrative clarity and stylistic range. Larry Grenadier, whose bass playing supplies tonal gravity, syncs with Eric Harland, a drummer who shapes the time feel through texture, subdivision, and dynamic control. Each player operates with the other to create a responsive unit. Recorded live in 2022, this album is about group design, tension management, and conversational improvisation.

The Corea classic, “500 Miles High,” opens with an unaccompanied piano introduction by Rubalcaba with structural tension and layered rhythms. The ensemble remains internally synced as Potter’s solo builds in developmental arcs, tying rhythmic cells to harmonic guideposts. “State of the Union” is a Grenadier’s piece in which the ensemble collectively chooses phrasing that emphasizes the conversational manner in which they hear music. Rubalcaba reinforcing mood; Potter’s soprano with articulation and contour; Grenadier with open ears; and Harland with clear time. This is an ensemble where everyone listens for the development of energy before moving forward. The transitions are unhurried, but precise in how they allow each player to register their own shade in the unfolding mood.

Eric Harland’s solo introduction explores meter, subdivision, and tone in “Eminece.” The ensemble functions together, each adding rhythm layers. Rubalcaba and Grenadier reinforce Harland’s architecture when Potter solos. His shifting energy moves vertically as his phrasing adds melodic height without disrupting the ground-level pulse. This is jazz with a modular design, as each member contributes blocks that stack and interlock.

The ensemble’s take on Gillespie’s standard “Con Alma’ opens with Rubalcaba’s 1:13 solo piano introduction. When the rest of the ensemble enters, they all focus on dynamic pacing, harmonic color congruency, and activity control. Potter’s solo is excellently phrased with a sense of exposition, development, and recapitulation. The climactic group section that follows is a collective orchestration created through mutual phrasing instinct.

Potter opens “Oba”, leading the rhythmic feel for the ensemble. From that one idea, the band builds in layers harmonically and rhythmically. Throughout the performance, Harland is adding commentary and propulsion as Grenadier is modulating with him to anchor harmonic targets. The players use energy staging by increasing register, rhythmic density, and attack shape to build forward motion. Potter and Rubalcaba’s interplay is especially enjoyable.

“Santo Canto” features Harland as the opening architect; his drumming maps out a rhythmic terrain that explores Afrobeat and post-bop. Grenadier and Rubalcaba enter with interactive parts, Potter’s entrance with the melody is beautifully nested within the existing layers as the composite texture of the ensemble swells. The form evolves into a performance that has ensemble cohesion. The piece ends not in fireworks, but in alignment — a subtle but significant decision.

First Meeting: Live at Dizzy’s Club is a strong live jazz album with the players building architectures in real time. You can hear sectional contrasts, transitions, thematic development, and call-and-response logic, all handled with a clear sense of time and momentum.