Front Street Duets, set for release on ALMA Records on November 4th, 2022 (October 14th in Canada), is a compelling collaboration of two internationally acclaimed Cuban jazz pianists and composers, Hilario Duran and David Virelles.

This collection of piano duets features the virtuosic playing of two musicians in peak form. Duran and Virelles have a musical and personal relationship dating back over two decades, but this is their most extensive project to date.

When ALMA head and album producer Peter Cardinali presented the concept to Duran and Virelles a couple of years ago, both instantly agreed. “This album is very special because I had the privilege to work with David,” Duran explains. “He is the most important Cuban piano player of this new generation, and now he has so much success in the New York City scene, playing with great jazz stars and doing his own projects.”

The album is a carefully curated collection of material that features new arrangements by both of traditional Cuban material, original compositions written by Hilario specifically for the project, and a fresh take on a much-loved standard, “Body and Soul.”

1. Guajira for Two Pianos
2. Challenge
3. Punto Cubano No. 1
4. Danza Lucumi
5. La Malanga
6. Milonga Por Cuba (Dedicated to 7-11)
7. Santos Suarez’s Memories
8. David’s Tumbao
9. Body and Soul

Arranged by Virelles, the dulcetly beautiful, shifting rhythms of Guajira for Two Pianos opens the album and is itself backed by the gently fervent Challenge, the harmoniously sculptured Punto Cubano No. 1, the sterner fare of the veritably meditative Danza Lucumi and then comes the free flowing, bright and breezy hipsway found within La Malanga.

Up next is the languishing beauty found within the melodious Milonga Por Cuba (Dedicated to 7-11, and all those protesting in the city last summer) which is then backed seamlessly by the reflective tones within Santos Suarez’s Memories (an homage to the Havana ‘hood that Hilario lived in), the album rounding out on the flirtatious David’s Tumbao, coming to a close on the freshly cultivated, Body and Soul.

Front Street Duets came together over just two days at the renowned Glenn Gould Studio in Toronto last November, with the recording helmed by the experienced tandem of producer Peter Cardinali and Juno/Grammy winning engineer John ‘Beetle’ Bailey.

The Toronto-based Duran is a towering figure in Cuban music. Over a career now spanning over 45 years, he has won three Juno Awards and earned a Grammy nomination (for 2006’s From the Heart, by Hilario Durán and his Latin Big Band).

His extensive discography includes work as a solo artist, and in duo, small group and big band settings, and he has also achieved distinction in the classical and chamber music worlds.

Now based in New York City after a stint in Toronto, Virelles records as a solo artist for such labels as ECM and Pi Recordings. He has collaborated extensively with such noted musicians as Andrew Cyrille, Bill Frisell, Henry Threadgill, Steve Coleman, and Ravi Coltrane, and last year he won the prestigious Herb Alpert Awards in the Arts.

Duran says, “most piano duets by jazz players come from improvisation, where they make it up in the moment. We have that here, but also a lot of complex arrangements we both contributed.”

Both pianists are masterful improvisers, and Duran notes that “having the same background with and knowledge of Cuban music is a great foundation. It is like we have the same musical blood in our veins! It was almost mental telepathy, as we were very aware of each other in the cues and where we were going.”

Virelles concurs, noting that “the music we grew up with from the country we share is part of our collective consciousness.”

The resulting album is both musically sophisticated and melodically attractive, and the compositions have a pleasing variety of tempos and tones.

hilarioduran.com

David Virelles @ Twitter