David Virelles | |
|---|---|
 Playing in Aarhus, Denmark | |
| Background information | |
| Born | 1983 (age 40–41) Cuba |
| Genres | Jazz |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, composer |
| Instrument | Piano |
| Years active | Early 2000s–present |
| Labels | ECM, Pi, Intakt, Justin Time |
David Virelles (born 1983) is a Cuban jazz pianist and composer.
Pianist and composer David Virelles grew up in a musical family in Santiago de Cuba, immersed in both the Afro-Caribbean diaspora's music and Western classical traditions. [1] He is the son of renowned Cuban singer-songwriter José Aquiles Virelles [2] and the flutist Mercedes González. [3] David’s musical training started at home, nurtured by the diverse musical culture of Santiago de Cuba, as well as the conservatory training he received first at the Escuela Vocational de Artes José María Heredia and later at the Conservatorio Esteban Salas.
Invited to Canada by Jane Bunnett in 2001, [4] Virelles moved to Toronto, before relocating to New York in 2009. While in Toronto, Virelles attended both the University of Toronto and Humber College.
Virelles' 2012 album Continuum appeared on many “Best of the Year” lists, being selected as the #1 album by The New York Times. [5] He has released three critically acclaimed projects on the legendary ECM label—Mbóko, Antenna, and Gnosis—each documenting a wide artistic range. His album Igbó Alákọrin (The Singer's Grove) Vol I & II celebrates Santiago de Cuba's musical history, featuring local music legends and recorded at the Siboney E.G.R.E.M. studios in Santiago. It was named "Best Latin Jazz" album by NPR in 2018. [6] In 2020, Virelles released Transformación del Arcoiris with Pi Recordings, an electronic EP available exclusively on Bandcamp. His 2022 album NUNA (El Tivoli Music/Pi Recordings), an exploration of solo piano, was named one of the best albums of the year by publications including The New York Times [7] and NPR, [8] and won the Aaron Copland Fund for Music Award. [9] His most recent release, Carta (2023, Intakt Records), features his trio with longtime collaborators Ben Street and Eric McPherson.
While he considers his work "a hundred percent traditional," drawing from a synthesis of traditions, he creates a unique, syncretic personal music rather than merely mixing elements or recreating existing styles. This vision was showcased in Virelles’ recent world premiere of his interdisciplinary piece ORO at Zankel Hall, a Carnegie Hall commission curated by composer Tania León and featuring Dafnis Prieto.
In addition to his solo work, Virelles has collaborated with Bunnett, Henry Threadgill, Ravi Coltrane, Andrew Cyrille, Reggie Workman, Oliver Lake, Tomasz Stanko, Bill Frisell, Román Díaz, Milford Graves, Chris Potter, Tom Harrell, Wadada Leo Smith, Steve Coleman, Mark Turner, Paul Motian, Marcus Gilmore, Terri Lyne Carrington, Changuito, Chucho Valdés, Stanley Cowell, Hermeto Pascoal, and Juan Pablo Torres.
Virelles is a Shifting Foundation Fellow and a recipient of awards from Canada Council for the Arts, the Louis Applebaum Award, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, the Cristobal Díaz Ayala Travel Grant, the Grand Prix de Jazz de Montreal General Motors, and The Jazz Gallery Commission. He has been named "#1 Rising Star in the Piano" category by DownBeat Magazine and "Artist of the Year" by Musica Jazz Magazine (Italy). While a student at Humber College in Toronto, he won the Oscar Peterson Prize, presented by Peterson himself. He is also a recipient of the Herb Alpert Award in the Arts [10] and the CINTAS Fellowship in Music Composition.
Virelles has been a professor at the Zürich University of the Arts since 2021 and has been a guest lecturer at institutions such as the Basel Jazz Campus and the Focus Year special program, CalArts, UCLA, the Siena Jazz Summer Workshop, JazzDanmark's Summer Sessions, the Amsterdam Conservatory, Fayetteville State University, and Harvard University.
| Year recorded | Title | Label | Personnel/Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | Motion | Justin Time | Most tracks quintet, with Luis Deniz (alto sax), Devon Henderson (bass), Ethan Ardelli (drums), Luis Obregoso (percussion); some tracks sextet, with Mark Turner (tenor sax), Jose Aquiles (vocals), or Pablosky Rosales (guitar) added; one track septet, with Turner (tenor sax), Celso Machado (vocals, gimbri) added |
| 2012 | Continuum | Pi | Quartet, with Ben Street (bass), Andrew Cyrille (drums), Román Díaz (percussion) |
| 2013 | Mbókò | ECM | Quintet, with Thomas Morgan and Robert Hurst (bass), Marcus Gilmore (drums), Roman Diaz (biankoméko, vocals) |
| 2016 | Antenna | ECM | Nonet, with Alexander Overington (electronics, samples, cello), Henry Threadgill (alto saxophone), Román Díaz (vocals), Marcus Gilmore (drums, MPC), Rafiq Bhatia (guitar), Etián Brebaje Man (vocals), Mauricio Herrera (percussion), Los Seres (percussion) |
| 2016 | Gnosis | ECM | With Román Diaz (vocals, percussion), Allison Loggins-Hull (flute, piccolo), Rane Moore (clarinet, bass clarinet), Adam Cruz and Alex Lipowski (percussion), Matthew Gold (marimba, glockenspiel), Mauricio Herrera (ekón, nkomos, erikundi, claves, vocals), Thomas Morgan (bass), Yunior Lopez (viola), Cristine Chen and Samuel DeCaprio (violoncello), Melvis Santa (vocals) |
| 2017 | Gnosis | ECM | With Román Díaz (vocals, percussion), Nosotros Ensemble |
| 2018 | Igbó Alákorin (The Singer's Grove) Vol. I & II | Pi / El Tivoli Music | With José Ángel Martínez (bass), Lázaro Bandera (congas), Román Filiú (alto sax), René "La Flor" Domínguez (tenor sax), Baudelis Rodríguez (baritone sax), Abel Virelles (trumpet), Gabriel Montero (pailitas criollas, claves), Rafael Ábalos (timbal, güiro), Emilio Despaigne Robert and José Aquiles Virelles (vocals), Alejandro Almenares (requinto, vocals) [12] |
| 2020 | Transformación del Arcoiris | Pi / El Tivoli Music | With Los Seres (percussion), Marcus Gilmore (MPS drums on 'Tiempos') |
| 2022 | Nuna | Pi / El Tivoli Music | With Julio Barreto (percussion) |
| 2023 | Carta | Intakt | With Ben Street (bass), Eric McPherson (drums, percussion) |
| 2024 | Signs | AHT Productions / El Tivoli Music |
| Year recorded | Leader | Title | Label |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Jane Bunnett | Alma de Santiago | Blue Note |
| 2002 | Jane Bunnett | Cuban Odyssey | Blue Note |
| 2011 | Chris Potter | The Sirens | ECM |
| 2012 | Tomasz Stańko | Wisława | ECM |
| 2013 | Jonathan Finlayson & Sicilian Defense | Moment And The Message | Pi Recordings |
| 2015 | Henry Threadgill | Old Locks and Irregular Verbs | Pi Recordings |
| 2016 | Tomasz Stańko | December Avenue | ECM |
| 2016 | Chris Potter | The Dreamer Is the Dream | ECM |
| 2018? | Román Filiú | Quarteria | Sunnyside |
| 2018 | Henry Threadgill 14 Or 15 Kestra: Agg | Dirt... And More Dirt | Pi Recordings |
| 2018 | Henry Threadgill | Double Up, Plays Double Up Plus | Pi Recordings |
| 2019 | Andrew Cyrille | The News | ECM |
| 2021 | Johnathan Blake | Homeward Bound | Blue Note |
| 2023 | Ohad Talmor | Back to the Land | Intakt [13] |
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