David Virelles

Though Cuban jazz pianist and composer David Virelles draws from American piano masters, his approach to jazz centers on probing the popular and folkloric rituals woven into Cuban music. Having settled in New York City after leaving Cuba, he has collaborated with Jane Bunnett, Steve Coleman, Henry Threadgill, and Chris Potter. Mbókò, released by ECM in 2014 to widespread acclaim, preceded the 2016 Antenna EP. Gnosis from 2017 featured a quartet alongside the Nosotros Ensemble, a string trio, and a vocal chorus. Returning to Cuba, he captured Igbó Alákọrin (The Singer's Grove) Vol. I & II for Pi Recordings, spotlighting composers from his native Santiago de Cuba with local players. Following the 2021 Herb Alpert Award for the Arts, he issued Nuna on Pi in 2022, presenting a collection of his solo piano pieces.

Virelles entered the world in Cuba during 1983 amid a musical household, where his father worked as a professional singer and songwriter while his mother performed as a flutist with the Santiago de Cuba Symphony. Classical piano instruction began at age seven amid constant immersion in the island’s diverse musical offerings. Discovery of his grandfather’s jazz records during his teenage years redirected his path, igniting a dedicated pursuit of the genre. Emigration to Canada occurred at eighteen, after which he pursued musical training at Toronto’s Hunter College under the guidance of saxophonist Jane Bunnett. Appearances on multiple Bunnett albums followed, along with tours alongside her Spirits of Havana ensemble.

Private lessons with pianist Barry Harris supplemented his time at Hunter. In 2003 the first Oscar Peterson Prize was bestowed upon him by the pianist himself. After repeated professional visits, Virelles established residence in New York during 2009 and immersed himself in the local jazz community. Engagements and recordings ensued with figures ranging from Wadada Leo Smith and Threadgill—whom he studied with and regards among his foremost influences—to Horacio "El Negro" Hernandez, Ravi Coltrane, Stanley Cowell, Rudresh Mahanthappa, Miguel Zenón, Hermeto Pascoal, and Sam Rivers.

Motion, his initial outing as leader, surfaced on Justin Time in 2008, succeeded by Continuum on Pi Recordings in 2011. An ECM debut arrived via membership in Chris Potter’s quintet on 2012’s The Sirens, then with Tomasz Stanko’s New York Quartet on 2013’s Wislawa. Later that year Virelles joined the ECM roster and tracked Mboko, issued in October 2014, with Thomas Morgan, Robert Hurst, Marcus Gilmore, and Román Díaz. Numerous year-end lists hailed the recording. The pianist, composer, and producer next delivered Antenna, a six-track EP, in late 2016, created alongside cellist and electronicist Alexander Overington and featuring Threadgill, Gilmore, Diaz, and the percussion ensemble Los Seres. Gnosis appeared in 2017, a large-scale composition conceived three years prior whose live premiere occurred in 2015 under joint auspices of The Music Gallery, Arraymusic, and Lula Music & Arts; Manfred Eicher captured the New York sessions a year afterward. Returning compatriots from Mboko included multi-instrumentalist and vocalist Román Diaz together with bassist Thomas Morgan, augmented by nine additional performers on woodwinds, strings, percussion, and voices. The work addresses transculturation, tradition, and Cuba’s layered musical fabric—sacred, secular, and ritualistic—while its contours reveal a contemporary improviser steeped in that art. Virelles characterizes the instrumental exchanges as “several families functioning within one unit: this dynamic symbolizes multicultural interaction.” September saw the album’s release, coinciding with his selection as Rising Jazz Pianist of the Year in the Downbeat Critics poll.

Virelles shifted to Pi Recordings in 2018 to fulfill a longstanding ambition of documenting overlooked musicians from Santiago de Cuba. Periodic returns after departing the island in 2001 allowed continued study with local elders, several of whom he enlisted. Sessions unfolded at the historic EGREM studios and yielded two distinct projects on Igbó Alákọrin (The Singer's Grove) Vols. 1 & 2, issued in November 2018. Vol. I: David Virelles Introduces Orquesta Luz de Oriente assembled a big band of veterans to present styles linked to Santiago, encompassing music by Electo Rosell of the Orchestra Chepin-Choven and Mariano Mercerón, both pivotal in shaping the percussion-driven Cuban big-band sound of the 1930s. Vol. II: Danzones de Romeu at Café La Diana reinterpreted the piano works of early-twentieth-century icon Antonio María Romeu, emphasizing his custom of performing danzones with güiro alone.

Following tours and an extended COVID-19 interruption devoted to composition and demo recording, Virelles received the Herb Alpert Award for the Arts in 2021. Pi released Nuna in May 2022, comprising sixteen previously unpublished solo piano compositions, with percussionist Julio Barreto joining on three selections.