The music of Cuban-born, Brooklyn-based pianist David Virelles conjures a hallucinatory world in which ancient Afro-Cuban rhythms and ritual reverberate in the here and now. His latest ECM offering is Antenna, music attuned to a timeless rhythmic-cultural current even as it pulses with a vibrantly urban, modernist energy. Antenna – a six-track, 22-minute EP to be released exclusively on vinyl and digitally – sees Virelles channel Afro-Cuban percussion into an electro-acoustic, almost psychedelic swirl, one that melds jazz improvisation and organic grooves with digital refraction, shadowy synthesizers, otherworldly field recordings and Cuban street poetry. Antenna is an undulating, throbbing, dizzying dream of sound. Mbòkó, the pianist’s ECM leader debut from 2014, featured in Best Of The Year lists in The New York Times, NPR, iTunes and The Village Voice, among others. The Guardian described Mbòkó as “a jazz-infused world-music project beyond categories,” adding: “Virelles looks set to make big differences in contemporary music for years to come.”

Artists

David Virelles (acoustic piano/hammond B3 organ/roland JUNO6 electric piano/ vermona electric piano/wurlitzer electric piano/prepared piano/programming/samples), 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)