Jazz at JAKI: Albert Vila feat. Doug Weiss & Rudy Royston

20:00 I Concert I 💿 JAKI

Albert Vila's approach to music encompasses the inherent complexity of nuance as well as the need to create simple, impressive melodies.

"Reality is nuance". Noticing all the little subtleties of what surrounds us gives us a deeper personal connection with the world, perhaps even defining us as human individuals. Albert's approach to music embraces the inherent complexity of nuance as well as the need to create simple, evocative melodies.

To date, Albert has mainly recorded and performed his original material in larger ensembles such as quartets or quintets. This time he wanted to explore his compositional and interpretive skills in a smaller ensemble, and here he is joined by the great double bassist Doug Weiss and the fantastic drummer Rudy Royston. The guitar trio lineup can be minimalist, delicate and even a challenging format, especially on an hour-long album. However, Weiss and Royston do an excellent job of blending styles and textures and capturing a wide sonic palette, and it's the playing of the trio as a whole that succeeds here.

For a soulful and thoughtful artist like Albert, creating a unified language was a very personal task. Albert explains: "I was really inspired by the polyphony of some classical and jazz pianists, and I wanted to bring some of that universe into the form of the guitar trio."

Reality is nuance is Albert's seventh album as a leader, and it clearly puts his new trio in a zone where everything hangs together as one.

...

Albert Vila (guitar), Doug Weiss (bass), Rudy Royston (drums)