Label: Pi Recordings, 2026
Personnel - David Virelles: piano; Reggie Workman: bass; Andrew Cyrille: drums.
Recorded at the legendary Van Gelder Studio, Creative Inspirations marks the debut album by Trio Imagination, which pairs the instantly recognizable Cuban pianist David Virelles with the unique rhythm team of bassist Reggie Workman and drummer Andrew Cyrille. These seasoned foundation builders invited Virelles to join them for a sort of spinoff of Trio 3, following saxophonist Oliver Lake's retirement from performing.
Virelles' "Unseen Mother I" opens the album in an atmospheric, highly cinematic way, with punctuated piano constellations, wet percussion, and bright, piercing metallic sounds. Workman's fabulous woody bass arrives gallantly as Virelles expands the harmonic texture of the setting. "Unseen Mother II" reaches even more hypnotic realms. Both pieces derive from a nearly two-minute sketch included on the pianist's 2012 album Continuum, which happens to feature Cyrille.
"Universal Sketches" places excellent bowed bass at the center, with Workman extracting exquisite overtones within a big, resonant sound. He then turns to pizzicato while the trio dives into obscurity and obliqueness.
It's impossible not to fall in love with the trio's impeccable rendition of Andrew Hill's "Refuge", which, despite being presented in a more straightforward way, acquires a fresh and personalized style via its demonstrative 6/8 time signature. Virelles plays it beautifully, and Cyrille enjoys a brief solo drum passage at the end.
Among the best pleasures on the recording are the delightfully percussive, Afro-Caribbean-focused pieces such as "Pétalo", "Neves", and the closer "Para Ti", which come full of timbral expertise and rhythmic elasticity. With angular structures creating an aura of incessant rhythmic discovery, these compositions amp the abstraction and curiosity with both transcendent foundations and noble, vivid harmonic surfaces. The piano groove in "Pétalo", a piece composed by Virelles specifically for this trio, offers a grandiose Cuban feel, featuring an expressive bass solo followed by outgoing piano impulses. "Neves" continues this intelligent, modern approach, coming out with significant Latin vibrancy, imaginative polyrhythmic daring, and intuitive motivic insight, while "Para Ti" is a typical Virelles exploration charted with a conspicuous melody over a rattling rhythm.
Trio Imagination moves freely from notated to spontaneous composition with genuine passion, effortlessly generating striking contrast in tonal color. Creative Inspirations is exactly what the title suggests—an album that leaves us wanting more as its curious layers and blends linger in our heads.
Favorite Tracks:
02 - Pétalo ► 04 - Refuge ► 06 - Neves ► 07 - Para Ti