Jazz Articles about David Virelles

About David Virelles

Album Review

There is no denying the significance of Andrew Cyrille's oft-cited association with Cecil Taylor, not to mention his collaborations with other avant-garde luminaries such as Walt Dickerson, Ahmed Abdul Malik and Marion Brown. However, such reductive narratives tend to overlook Cyrille's own, fairly extensive output as a leader, beginning with What About? (BYG Actuel, 1971). Whilst there have sometimes been long gaps between his records, the Brooklyn-born drummer has struck a rich vein of form in his autumnal years on ...

Album Review

Andrew Cyrille Quartet: The News

Read "The News" reviewed by Mario Calvitti

by Mario Calvitti
October 19, 2021

Con una carriera che attraversa gli ultimi 60 anni di storia del jazz, dall'alto dei suoi 80 anni (compiuti un paio di mesi dopo le sessioni di registrazione di questo disco nel 2019), il veterano batterista Andrew Cyrille non ha alcun timore di mettersi ancora in gioco, come aveva già dimostrato pochi anni fa con il notevole The Declaration of Musical Independence (titolo decisamente programmatico per il suo esordio da leader per l'etichetta tedesca), di cui questo nuovo album rappresenta ...

Album Review

Sara Serpa: Recognition

Read "Recognition" reviewed by Jerome Wilson

by Jerome Wilson
July 30, 2020

A lot of people have started to come to grips with shameful parts of their national heritage in recent times. In America, that has meant protests against displays of the Confederate flag and monuments to Confederate Civil War generals. For Portuguese-born vocalist and composer Sara Serpa, dealing with her heritage has taken a more personal form with Recognition, a multi-media work dealing with Portugal's history of colonial oppression and subjugation of native peoples in Angola. The piece has ...

Album Review

David Virelles: Igbó Alákọrin

Read "Igbó Alákọrin" reviewed by Luca Canini

by Luca Canini
January 7, 2019

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, ...

Album Review

David Virelles: Igbó Alákọrin

Read "Igbó Alákọrin" reviewed by Jim Trageser

by Jim Trageser
November 19, 2018

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 ...

Live Review

David Virelles & Nosotros at Jazz Standard

by Tyran Grillo
February 4, 2018

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 ...

Album Review

David Virelles: Gnosis

by Mark Sullivan
September 27, 2017

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 ...