CD ECM Records David Virelles: Mboko

2013

David Virelles - pian
Thomas Morgan - contrabas
Robert Hurst - contrabas
Marcus Gilmore - tobe
Roman Diaz - Biankoméko, voce

There’s a feeling of dusky enigma in these compositions, but also a gripping suspense, especially as the album establishes a flow. [...] This is an album deeply informed by a couple of traditions but ultimately nourished by many.
Nate Chinen, The New York Times

On his ECM debut, ‘Mbókó- Sacred Music For Piano, Two Basses, Drum Set And Biankoméko Abakuá’, the wildly original New York-based Cuban pianist David Virelles deploys folkloric sacred music from his homeland in a dynamic conversation with percussionist Román Díaz, fueled by improvisation. […] The participation of kit drummer Marcus Gilmore and double bassists Thomas Morgan and Robert Hurst is intricately woven into the music’s fabric, but the heart of the music pulses within the interactions of Virelles and Díaz. […] Boundaries between jazz, classical and Afro-Cuban music seem irrelevant for Virelles, and he has noted an embrace of the art’s social function, whether sacred or profane.
Peter Margasak, DownBeat (4 ½ stars)

A band comprising acoustic piano, two double-basses and two mostly quiet percussionists might seem a weird balance by the standards of most record labels, but at ECM it’s par for the course. On his ECM leadership debut, young expat Cuban pianist David Virelles continues to reveal new facets of the talent and intelligence that have already endeared him to jazz heavy-hitters including Tomasz Stanko, Steve Coleman and Chris Potter. With ‘Mbókó’, Virelles explores ancient Afro-Cuban sacred and ritual musics through imaginative fusions with contemporary materials. Mostly he does this by using the two basses as drones, mixing spacious chord-moods with bursts of startling improvisation in a flux of styles, and focusing much of the melody-playing on drummers Marcus Gilmore and Roman Diaz, the latter a virtuoso of the traditional four-drum biankomeko kit. […] Virelles looks set to make big differences in contemporary music for years to come.
John Fordham, The Guardian

With his own leader debut for ECM, Mbókò, he has fashioned a recording whose success is absolutely founded on the musical excellence of his chosen band mates, but which is nevertheless anything but a showcase for overt virtuosity and instrumental pyrotechnics. Instead, its subtitle says it all: Sacred Music for Piano, Two Basses, Drum Set and BIankoméko Abakuá, with the emphasis on Sacred Music. On this set of ten Virelles originals, the emphasis is more about evocation, whether it's the blockier angularity and energy of ‘Seven, Through the Divination Horn,’ where drummer Marcus Gilmore and biankoméko expert Roman Diaz create a polyrhythmic stew made denser still through the contributions of double bassists Thomas Morgan and Robert Hurst, or the lyrical beauty of the sparer ‘The Highest One’ where, with ECM's characteristic attention to detail and sound, everyone's contributions are there to be heard with pristine clarity and absolute transparency.
John Kelman, All About Jazz

On a piece like ‘Stories Waiting To be Told’, even piano alone, placing fragmentary melodic images upon silence, creates expectancy. You know the drums, the drones, the addictive rhythms are waiting. And the rhythms do come, but Virelles responds only with more lingering mysteries. This music contains a large variety of small sonic events. They accumulate into designs that are all connotation, like runes.
The jazz art form places high value on the new. Those who can give in to this music and let it happen to them will be rewarded with a unique experience.
Thomas Conrad, Jazz Times (Editor’s Pick)

Pianist David Virelles brings together Thomas Morgan/b, Robert Hurst/b, Marcus Gilmore/dr and Roman Diaz/biankomenko-v for creating music that represents the ritualistic worship music from Cuba. Don’t expect your typical Afro-Cuban sounds here; what you get are moments of somber percussive musings, delicate piano shadings and plenty of moments for quiet meditation. There are moments such as on ‘Wind Rose’ or ‘Biankomendo’ where the music is simply felt and not heard, more emitted than performed, while Virelles himself creates reflective moments during ‘Stories Waiting to be Told.’
George W. Harris, Jazz Weekly

Profound, mysterious, and darkly numinous, this is the sound of an enquiring musical mind exploring the subterranean rivers that connect Thelonious Monk and Andrew Hill to the timeless rhythms of his homeland.
Cormac Larkin, Irish Times

Rich imagination, discipline, multiple colors and timbres, and striking originality. The two bassists are veterans Thomas Morgan and Robert Hurst, and drummer Marcus Gilmore has established a fine reputation as a session man and as part of Vijay Iyer's trio. The bassists' roles are different here. There is little to no counterpoint or driving guidepost rhythmic statements; instead, they provide complementary rhythmic pulses and drones. Gilmore's drumming makes the beat elastic, like a dancer does. He syncopates but just as often illustrates and underscores the role of Díaz's biankoméko. Virelles plays piano as percussively as he does melodically.
Thom Jurek, AllMusic.com