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David Virelles: Igbó Alákọrin
by Luca Canini
L'idea non è certo nuova, e nemmeno troppo originale. Legioni di musicisti, da un angolo all'altro del pianeta, non hanno saputo resistere prima o poi alla tentazione di riavvicinarsi a casa, di riannodare i fili con il passato saldando il debito che ogni artista ha con le proprie radici. Ma c'è modo e modo di tornare al luogo al quale si appartiene. David Virelles, per esempio, ha scelto la strada più tortuosa. Imboccata con convinzione fin dai tempi di Continuum, ...
Continue ReadingDavid Virelles: Igbó Alákọrin
by Jim Trageser
Maybe the most unexpected delight of 2018, avant-garde pianist David Virelles has released an utterly dyed-in-the-wool homage to his birthplace of Santiago de Cuba.Completely different from any other recording he's done to this point, this unreconstructed slice of midcentury Cuban music is so completely steeped in tradition, and Virelles' playing is so gorgeously virtuosic, that it's akin to unearthing a lost Bebo Valdés recording from the 1950s.Which is what makes it as unexpected as it is ...
Continue ReadingDavid Virelles & Nosotros at Jazz Standard
by Tyran Grillo
David Virelles & Nosotros feat. Román Díaz Jazz Standard New York, NY January 31, 2018 Since touching hallowed ECM ground in 2013, pianist David Virelles has opened minds of listeners far and wide. Despite the expansive reach of his art, however, the experience of hearing it live is nothing if not inward. Joined for two nights at Jazz Standard by percussionists Román Díaz and Keisel Jiménez, along with bassist Rashaan Carter, Virelles proved ...
Continue ReadingDavid Virelles: Gnosis
by Mark Sullivan
Cuban-American pianist/composer David Virelles continues the exploration of Afro-Cuban musical traditions begun with his first recorded collaboration with vocalist/percussionist Román Díaz on Continuum (Pi Recordings, 2012), continuing through Mbókò (ECM, 2013) and Antenna (ECM, 2016). He uses “gnosis" to refer to ancient collective knowledge, and this music is about the intersection of cultures--contemporary improvisational language and Cuban sources, especially the sacred Abakuá percussion ensemble. There are over a dozen instrumentalists and vocalists employed, but they are mostly broken ...
Continue ReadingDavid Virelles: Gnosis
by Angelo Leonardi
Dopo il breve e visionario excursus elettroacustico di Antenna (ECM, 2016), David Virelles prosegue nella sua coraggiosa riformulazione della musica cubana sviluppando la ricerca di Mbókò, il suo debutto ECM del 2014. Se quell'album era sottotitolato Sacred Music for Piano, Two Basses, Drum Set and Biankoméko Abakuá qui il riferimento al sacro è dato dal termine Gnosis, che indica la conoscenza esoterica, che non viene dalla ragione o dall'esperienza ma giunge dal divino. Dei partner ...
Continue ReadingDavid Virelles: Antenna
by Mark Sullivan
Pianist/composer David Virelles has combined his Cuban heritage with jazz before, most notably on his 2014 ECM leader debut Mbókò, which had the subtitle “Sacred Music for Piano, Two Basses, Drum Set and Biankoméko Abakuá." But this EP--which is being released exclusively on vinyl and digitally--takes things in an entirely new electro-acoustic direction. It's a dense sonic stew of improvisation and ritual rhythmic grooves, a sound both urban and traditional. “Binary" opens with the sound of Los Seres, ...
Continue ReadingDavid Virelles: Mbókò
by Luca Canini
Certo che ne ha di talento David Virelles. A quintali, a vagonate. Da affittare, vendere e persino subappaltare. Nell'ottobre del 2012, quando la Pi Recordings mise il timbro su Continuum, secondo disco del pianista di origini cubane, non furono in molti ad accorgersi che era nata una stella. Oggi, a due anni abbondanti di distanza, il numero degli euforici sostenitori è cresciuto in maniera esponenziale. Merito delle comparsate nel quartetto americano di Tomasz Stanko, nello strepitoso Double-Up ...
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