Rabble Without A Cause
Wednesday February 17th, 2016 with Bernard Stepien
TD Ottawa Jazz Festival sequel: Cuban avant-garde pianist David Virelles

The concert by pianist David Virelles and percussionist Ramon Diaz was the highlight of the TD Ottawa Winter Jazz Festival. The duo proved to be a masterwork of mutual reinforcing. This was not a leader vs sideman setting. Each fed the other with elements that enabled the recipient to develop his ideas. The pianist has this multitude of keys to play, the percussionist rendered the same effect using different parts of the skin of the drums or shakers and with the tour de force using just plain sticks. The music of David Virelles is a dramatic departure from the usual Salsa music. However, the natural engine of the Montuno is not absent it is just reworked with as many embellishments as possible. Each composition starts on the pianissimo range and in a minimalistic way and ends the same way regardless of how intense the middle part reached. There is an organic quality to their music where molecules assemble into the a form and slowly dissolve back to the original components. Virelles played compositions after compositions as if they were part of the same tune with no gaps for applause except one toward the end that happened to be unscheduled and resulted from not finding immediately the right chart on the pile spread over the sound board. People ventured in applauding but had to retreat quickly as Virelles started the next composition. Thus one can ask himself this question: was this a concert or a Chango ritual? The answer came towards the middle of the concert when Roman Diaz in full Biankoméko gear started the emotionally laden Santeria in Yoruba language transmitted generation after generation by African slaves and here it was, intact after all those centuries of suffering. Unfortunately, there is no CD out yet of this particular configuration. However, this talent got quickly noticed by the ECM label where a quintet can be found. Tonight, we will explore the ECM David Virelles Mboko CD.