David Virelles, Roman Díaz, Nosotros Ensemble Gnosis (2 LP)

180g Vinyl Double LP!
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
"Without trying to use Cuba stereotypes, Virelles continues what he started with the albums ‘Continuum’ and ‘Mbókò‘. Comparisons with other art forms are always tricky, but the (South and Central American) modernity of 'magical realism' apparently plays into the enchanting sound events. [...] Unusual sounds are constantly sprouting up, like Thomas Morgan's short bass solo, the snarling sounds of the marimbula, sometimes a jingle tree in combination with a deep drum. A listening adventure that is never boring, extremely vibrant and staged with a lot of form awareness and a sense for spontaneous flashes of inspiration." - Karl Lippegaus; Fono Forum
"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
"'Gnosis' is an incredibly colorful and multifaceted sound painting consisting of eighteen pieces between one and five minutes long, which is far from any Cuban stereotypes and is much closer to the creative American contemporary music. As with his ECM debut 'Mbókò', which was released in 2014, the Biankoméko drummer and singer Román Díaz, with his knowledge of ancient traditions, rituals and magical stories, is once again playing the creative adversary and incentive for David Virelles. But also four strings, most famous double bassist Thomas Morgan, two winds and four percussionists serve the imaginative composer as a reservoir for a wide range of timbres and diverse rhythms." - Peter Füßl, Culture
"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
"The fruit of a long maturation, David Virelles offers us much more than an additional disc: a masterpiece of the first half of the XXI century! [...] Intense, inventive, intelligent, unheard of!" - Ludovic Florin, Jazz Magazine
"‘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
"The textures change in rapid succession, the incomprehensible meets the tangible, and sounds like spirits wander through the room before rhythms take shape. [...] Many people see David Virelles as a sound visionary. Rightly so." - Ssirus W. Pakzad, Evening newspaper
"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
"Virelles plays solo pieces on the one hand, either completely openly or in cleverly updated impressionisms. On the other hand, you can hear him alternating with a kind of chamber orchestra of strings, woodwinds and percussion, sometimes with ritualistic call-and-response singing led by the poet Roman Díaz. An interesting point here is how Virelles evokes his homeland in vocal performance and the many–headed, often surging Afro-Cuban percussion - and yet thinks in abstract contrasts and fragmented piano clusters, in open lines and sound spaces." - Markus Schneider, Rolling Stone (Germany)
"To Cuban-born, New York-based pianist David Virelles, ‘gnosis’ refers to ‘an ancient collective reservoir of knowledge.’ ‘Gnosis’, his fourth album as a leader – featuring poet-percussionsit Roman Díaz as spiritual collaborator – draws on everything from improvisational sound-painting to punctilious solo piano improvisations, contemporary chamber music, 20th-century Romantic composition and a solo piano arrangement by 2016 Pulitzer Prize winning composer Henry Threadgill. […] Such attractive surfaces and the program’s tautness should encourage repeat listening, during which insights into the underlying structure of this multi-dimensional work will be revealed." - Howard Mandel, Downbeat
"No matter which side of the pianist’s musical persona is articulated on ‘Gnosis’, it comes across in toto as a balanced work in its entirety, full of interrogation and erudition. It may not be an ‘easy’ work to absorb initially, but with repeated listening, it become far less oblique; one need only use the episodic piano solos as guides. Virelles wrote ‘Gnosis’ not as a statement but as a series of plausible yet labyrinthine questions. Its beauty lies in that fact that though his questions have purpose and direction, they are, by their very nature, unanswerable." - Thom Jurek, All Music
"Here he draws as much from the ancient fund of Cuban traditions as from the sounds of religious cults, from dance, from jazz. His artistic imagination goes far, the line-up is correspondingly large and includes a string quartet with viola, two cellos with bassist Thomas Morgan, as well as various percussionists and instruments such as marimbula, clarinet and flute. The pieces, which are usually only two to three minutes long, each give a brief look at new aspects of a still mysterious Cuban heritage, not without reflecting on their own perspective – Virelles lives in Brooklyn, New York. As philosophical as it is fascinating." - Joachim Weis, Jazzthetik
"He’s a sideman of choice in those top drawer contemporary jazz line-ups. On ‘Gnosis’ he unfurls an even broader canvas, referencing jazz, his Cuban roots with explicitly African resonances, and contemporary classical music. It is a suite of eighteen short pieces, some the briefest of sketches, none outstaying their welcome. Solo piano pieces are scattered amongst percussion heavy Cuban grooves, tribal chants, fully scored ensemble pieces and spacious, free, explorations. […] This is a remarkable album. Virelles’ imagination and compositions succeed in melding sounds and musical language from across the globe, evoking powerful images and making compelling listening. His singular voice and touch at the piano is the connecting thread throughout." - Mike Collins, London Jazz News
"His association with vocalist and percussionist Román Díaz began with the pianist’s second album and Díaz’s presence is felt keenly on tracks like ‘Benkomo’, ‘Epílog’ and ‘Erume Kondó’, where his part-sun, part-spoken interjections add a dramatic dimension to the pieces. […] this album’s understated ingenuity is consistently compelling throughout."- Roger Farbey, Jazz Journal
"Virelles builds bridges, develops visionary scenarios, pours the Cuban and New York melting pots together. However, not at random; because ultimately, with Virelle's exciting constructions, every note of the often complex arrangements of strings, woodwinds and, of course, a lot of percussion (especially the great master Román Díaz here) is the only possible place. 'Gnosis' has little in common with what is commonly understood by Latin jazz. But since these are definitely such, one can confidently speak of a redefinition of the genre." - Janis Obodda, HiFi Stars
"The pianist David Virelles came to New York via Santiago de Cuba and Toronto. Along the way his vocation as a musician has unfolded in dramatic fashion – so dramatic, in fact, some might say use the word “miraculous”; although “supernatural-existentialist” might be more appropriate, given the results of Gnosis, his 2017 recording on ECM. It is not so curious a phenomenon, considering, firstly: the fact that Mr Virelles is of Afro-Cuban descent and secondly: that he is under the spell – so to speak – of one of the high-priests (literally) of the Lucumi practice, Román Díaz. Anyone who leaps out of this backdrop is guaranteed to have a heady brew coursing through his veins. Gnosis proves this quite beyond doubt." - Raul da Gama, jazzdagama.com, September 4, 2017

• David Virelles, piano, marimbula, background vocals
• Roman Diaz, lead vocals, bonko enchemiya, ekon, nkomos, erikundi, itones, nkania, marimbula, claves, mayohuacan, pilon, carapacho de jicotea, coconut shells

Nosotros Ensemble

• Allison Loggins-Hull, piccolo, flute
• Rane Moore, clarinet, bass clarinet
• Adam Cruz, steel pan, claves
• Alex Lipowski, orchestral bass drum, temple blocks, bongos, gong
• Matthew Gold, marimba, glockenspiel
• Mauricio Herrera, ekon, nkomos, erikundi, claves, background vocals
• Thomas Morgan, double bass
• Yunior Lopez. viola
• Christine Chen, violoncello
• Samuel DeCaprio, violoncello
• Melvis Santa, background vocals