Hilario Durán & David Virelles – Front Street Duets (Alma Records, 2022)
The Front Street Duets is a captivating album highlighting the partnership between Hilario Durán and David Virelles, both renowned Cuban jazz pianists and composers. The album presents their exceptional piano skills through a series of duets. Durán and Virelles have a long-standing friendship and musical connection spanning over 20 years, making this their most extensive collaborative project to date.
The Toronto-based Hilario Durán Torres is a leading figure in Cuban music. Over a career now spanning over 45 years, he has won three Juno Awards (top Canadian music award) and earned a Grammy nomination for 2006’s From the Heart, by Hilario Durán and his Latin Big Band. Duran’s 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.
Currently based in New York City after living in Toronto, David Virelles González records as a solo artist for such labels as ECM and Pi Recordings. He has collaborated extensively with noted musicians like Andrew Cyrille, Bill Frisell, Henry Threadgill, Steve Coleman, and Ravi Coltrane, and last year he won the prestigious Herb Alpert Awards in the Arts.
“This album is very special because I had the privilege to work with David,” Durán 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.”