ECM Records David Virelles: Gnosis

2017

David Virelles - Piano, Marímbula, Background Vocals
Román Díaz - Lead Vocals and Percussion (Bonkó Enchemiyá, Ekón, Nkomos, Erikundi, Itones, Nkaniká, Marímbula, Claves, Mayohuacán, Pilón, Carapacho de Jicotea, Coconut Shells)
Allison Loggins-Hull - Piccolo, Flute
Rane Moore - Clarinet, Bass Clarinet
Adam Cruz - Percussion (Steel Pan, Claves)
Alex Lipowski - Percussion (Orchestral Bass Drum, Temple Blocks, Bongos, Gong)
Matthew Gold - Percussion (Marimba, Glockenspiel)
Mauricio Herrera - Percussion (Ekón, Nkomos, Erikundi, Claves), Background Vocals
Thomas Morgan - Double Bass
Yunior Lopez - Viola
Christine Chen - Violoncello
Samuel DeCaprio - Violoncello
Melvis Santa - Background Vocals




In this vivid and exciting project, the Santiago-raised and New York-based pianist-composer David Virelles looks towards one melting pot from the vantage point of another. A far-reaching work with deep cultural roots, Gnosis speaks of transculturation and traditions, and of the complex tapestry of Cuba’s music – the sacred, the secular, and the ritualistic – but the work’s shapes and forms could only have been created by a gifted contemporary player thoroughly versed in the art of the improvisers. Strings, woodwinds and percussion all have their roles to play in Gnosis, viewed by Virelles as “several families functioning within one unit: this dynamic symbolizes multicultural interaction.” Virelles’ responsive piano and the vocals and percussion of Román Díaz, a profound figure in the transmission of Afro-Cuban musical history, are at the centre of the action. Gnosis was recorded at New York’s Avatar Studios in May 2016 and produced by Manfred Eicher.

This pianist is guided by Afro-Cuban folklore and a respect for the recondite. His work takes you by the hand, leads you into darkness, whispers secrets that you’ll never find a way to retell. Mr. Virelles’s longtime musical partner and mentor is Román Díaz, the percussionist, poet and spiritual historian; his voice is the all-encompassing force that declaims across ‘Erume Kondó.’ Like most of the tracks on this remarkable, roaming album, the tune is brief and hypnotic — an intimation of what’s beneath and within, not an exegesis.
Giovanni Russonello, New York Times

Mr. Virelles, who is 33 and a New Yorker since 2009, is a pianist of remarkable skill and unwavering ambition. […] focused research infuses this music, yet the expression is purely visceral and the context imagined. The richness of chamber-music interplay arrives free of rhythmic rigidity. The ingredients of ritual music form cells for compositions that, in spots, give way to improvisation that again, in new ways, bears a ritual feel.
Larry Blumenfeld, Wall Street Journal

This session, with strings, flute, vocals and four percussionists led by the Cuban drums guru Roman Diaz, sees Virelles deepening his exploration of the fission points between ancient African Cuban traditions and the music of his own era. The opening is an impressionistic drift across preoccupied percussion tappings, the glowing resonances of the marimbula (which sounds like a plucked marimba), and Thomas Morgan’s pizzicato bass. Breezy dance rhythms then guide left-hand piano vamps driving right-hand free improv. Dark, street-throbbing grooves are challenged by imperiously talkative Diaz vocals, while contemporary classical flute and clarinet meditations release storming freebop piano breaks. It’s a big, inclusive musical story, told in revealingly patient and personal narratives.
John Fordham, The Guardian

‘Gnosis’ represents a meeting of worlds—old and new, Latin and North American—a concept David Virelles knows well. Born to musician parents in Cuba and trained in Toronto and New York, it comes as little surprise that he developed his compositional voice by uniting the musical language of his upbringing with the modern jazz of his new North American home. Gnosis also signifies new sonic territory for the young pianist; working with an extended ensemble featuring cello, viola, clarinets, and a wide variety of Afro-Cuban percussion, ‘Gnosis’ is undoubtedly the most ambitious musical project he’s undertaken to date. […] ‘Gnosis’ is a stellar recording from the young pianist, one that honors tradition while embracing innovation. While undeniably abstract and esoteric at times, Virelles’ latest can still communicate with audiences who remain open to new sounds and ideas.
Andy Jurik, Popmatters

Pianist David Virelles mixes solo performances with group meetings as he teams with Roman Diaz and Nosotros Ensemble on this album. By himself, his touch is thoughtful, free and percussive […] With the Ensemble, you get strings, percussion, reeds and tribal vocals as on the earthy ‘Benkomo’ and the world-wide and spacious ‘Tierra’ with flute and sax teaming with rumbling percussion. The contrast between group format and intimate lone instrument makes for an intriguing contrast of colors, with Virelles sounding at times like a one man band. Personal and yet public.
George W. Harris, Jazz weekly

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 up into various small ensembles: the concert premiere was billed as ‘futuristic Afro-Cuban chamber music.’ […] Sections with the full ensemble (often with Allison Loggins-Hull's flute in the lead) such as ‘Tierra’ and ‘Visiones Sonoras’ alternate with more vocal selections, another feature for Morgan's bass with percussion (‘Nuná’), and solo piano. In fact Virelles closes out the set on piano with two unaccompanied tracks (‘De Cuando Era Chiquita’ and ‘De Coral’). Yet the entire program maintains a consistent tone, simultaneously ancient and contemporary: a ritual for the modern world.
Mark Sullivan, All About Jazz

Pianist David Virelles’ reflection on cross-cultural interplay combines Cuban rhythmic thrust, New York bite and a profound sense of magic and mystery. The spectrum of influences is broad. […] Pieces vary from pristine solo piano improvisations to rumbustious Latin dances and from all-out piano improv to the modern-classical textures of the Nosotros Ensemble. Virelles holds the strands together from the piano with a firm touch.
Mike Hobart, Financial Times

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