Ruy Adrián López-Nussa

Young Cuban composer, pianist and percussionist. His style is evident in the instruments he prefers: piano and drums.

With a young but meteoric career behind him, the Cuban pianist and drummer has already performed on the most prestigious stages of world jazz, such as the Blue Note in New York and Beijing, the Montreal Festival, the Cotton Club in Tokyo and the Montreux Festival.

He has accompanied on stage artists of the caliber of Omara Portuondo, Miguel Zenon, Carlos Varela and Dave Matthews and is familiar with film score composition.

A member of the prominent Lopez-Nussa family of musicians, drummer Ruy Adrián honors his lineage and is one of the most outstanding representatives of the new generation of Cuban jazz musicians. From a very early age, Ruy Adrián has been involved in both his father's, uncle's and brother's projects as well as in other spaces where he has been developing his own personality as a percussionist. He recently released his debut as a soloist, the DVD "Dos lenguajes," recorded live at the Havana's Teatro Martí.

He is grateful to his parents for raising him with the discipline necessary to train as a musician, without missing the opportunity to play and interact. His skills on two instruments allow him to switch from drums and compose on piano.

In 2021 Ruy Adrián López-Nussa made headlines by becoming the winner of the fourth edition of the "Tete Montoliu" Jazz Composer Competition. Through a live broadcast from his home in Havana, the young musician followed the ceremony in which a Spanish band played the finalist works, and was very surprised when he learned the results of the jury's deliberations.

A Lyle, his tribute piece to American musician Lyle Mays, took first place in the event convened by the General Society of Spanish Artists and Writers.

Early 2021 brought the instrumentalist another great gift, this time in the form of his first material: the CD/DVD Dos lenguajes, under the Bis Music label. It was something that — he admits — had been cooking in his head for a long time; and which received the final push from friends and family who were "planting the bug in his body" to get him to record his works in a compilation phonogram.

"Dos lenguajes is a compendium of everything I like. I studied piano and percussion, that's why the name. It's my piano language and my drums language that become one. It also includes a group of duets, and so it is, in the same way, the language of the guest and mine."

And if such confluences in the same creative language were not enough, the material also serves as a tribute to the family heritage of the López-Nussa, to which Cuban and French blood flows.

William Roblejo, Aldo López-Gavilán, Daymé Arocena, Ruly Herrera, Mayquel González, Elmer Ferrer and his brother and uncle, Harold and Ernán López-Nussa, respectively, accompany him in this adventure of jazz colleagues brought to album.

Among the songs they share in the phonogram are La yuca funk, four hands with William Roblejo, a work in which both young men reinterpret the disco genre from their way of understanding the sounds that characterize it; and Guajira, with Daymé Arocena, which for Ruy Adrián is a minimalist piece where voice and drums merge — without lyrics — , and he manages to draw pure rhythm, harmonics and melodies from the instrument.

"Recording Dos lenguajes was very exhausting. I love the sound of live performance. I wanted to get out of the studio which is a bit colder, drier, speaking in all senses not just acoustically. I wanted it to feel live, that's why it was recorded at Teatro Martí, in a single day, from 8:30 in the morning to midnight. Without an audience, but continuous, so as not to lose that energy of doing things in the moment."

What challenges does producing this type of album in Cuba impose?

"Carrying out any production in Cuba always has its complexity. Not only in technical matters, although these days we have advanced greatly in that regard.

"An example that happened with the album is the song with Elmer Ferrer. I didn't want to leave it out, because from the moment I thought of Dos lenguajes, it was there. In the end we couldn't do it because Elmer is in Canada and I'm here in Havana. There wasn't the budget to bring him to record. It could have been done remotely, but from a technical standpoint, it involved a lot of complicated equipment; plus internet connection. For that reason it couldn't be on the DVD. So I left the song on the CD as a Bonus Track, and I did it with a band. I gave it another twist. I didn't want to do without my great idol guitarist."

Recording a music album on the Island — says Ruy Adrián — is not exempt from studio complications also present in the first world, such as the program not responding, the sound not coming out for some reason, or musicians having some eventuality. However, within the borders there are peculiarities when pressing the "record" button: the power going out when everything is ready to start or some equipment cable breaking and no replacement appearing immediately.

"Making the album for me was super exciting. I left the musical production in Harold's hands because we know each other just by looking at each other, because he is my right hand and my left hand. I had a first-rate team with the best desire to create and work. Everything flowed."

"It's my way of expressing myself, it's freedom and improvisation. I love sitting at the drums and creating in the moment, letting everything flow naturally. Of course, you have to study, rehearse and learn the songs. But that is the foundation of Jazz: a theme, development and improvisation. In fact, I have great respect for rehearsals. I don't like to overdo them or the studio sessions because, from my way of seeing music, it corrupts it. Jazz is the way to show everything I have inside, I'm like that in music; however, as a good Virgo, I'm not the same in everyday life."

"Yes, and with great demands. One of the places where I get most nervous playing is here, in my country, with my public, because I know they are knowledgeable. Maybe it's the minority, but it's like everywhere in the world…

"Nowadays simple music is what moves the masses. When I say simple music I'm not disparaging, but because it's the kind that has what someone needs to dance."

"It's that of a young generation that's asserting itself, that comes with strength and knowledge. Young people, within which I include myself — laughs — , are sweeping through like Van Van would say, and with an impressive level."

When young musicians are asked whether being born into the López-Nussa family conditioned his musical path, he responds that perhaps had he been born into another family he would not have become a musician; or perhaps he would have, as he is categorical when he affirms that he owes his career to his mother, Mayra Torres, and she is not a López-Nussa. His mother, who pushed him forward with her perseverance, support and patience. "Unfortunately, I don't have her in body, but I do in soul and heart…"

Growing up in an artistic environment was tinged with influences. In the daily life of young Ruy Adrián, the chords and melodies came together on the piano of that Bill Evans that his grandmother listened to; as well as the music of his uncle Ernán with the groups Afrocuba and Cuarto Espacio, and his father Ruy alongside musicians of the caliber of Santiago Feliú, Pedro Luis Ferrer and Roberto Fonseca.

"It's a tremendous commitment to carry the López-Nussa name. I was born into a family of artists already with a name; so I carry it and defend it, however, I don't think much about it. I show up, I play and if people like it, congratulations; if they don't like it well, nothing, I try to move on and do it better next time. I'm grateful to carry that name, but being a López-Nussa is not my calling card."

"I've had quite an intense career, I would say. I've spent twelve years alongside my brother, touring the whole world and playing at the most important Jazz festivals. It's been a short career, because it's twelve years, but intense.

"I don't pay much attention to those things, I'm a bit shy. It's part of my personality. Of course, everyone likes to have good things said about them, and to have positive references; but mine is to sit down and make music, that reaches the public and they like it. At each concert I give everything. I give all that I know and everything that is born in me in that moment."

Regarding his dual training as an instrumentalist, he recalls that he began studying piano at age five, with professor Hortensia Guzmán. Later, his father saw talent in him for drums, and he applied to cultivate himself in that instrument as well.