BBC Radio 3 is a radio channel that started transmitting on the 30th September 1967. It replaced Third Programme.

BBC Radio 3

Radio 3

Jazz on 3

Music: Jazz & Blues

Music: Jazz & Blues: Jazz

Celebrating the best contemporary jazz, with exclusive concert recordings and features

From free jazz to fusion, post-bop to electronica – Jazz on 3 celebrates the music as a living and developing art form, with exclusive concert recordings and in-depth features

Jazz on 3: David Virelles

David Virelles

14/12/2015

BBC Radio 3 - Jazz on 3, David Virelles

Cuban pianist David Virelles and his Mboko quartet perform Afro-Cuban sacred music.

Jez Nelson presents Cuban pianist David Virelles and his Mboko quartet performing Afro-Cuban sacred music in a concert at Kings Place for the 2015 EFG London Jazz Festival.

Cuban pianist David Virelles and his Mbókò quartet explore Afro-Cuban sacred music at Kings Place, as the part of the 2015 EFG London Jazz Festival.

After moving to Canada and then to New York, in 2009, Virelles has established himself as one of the most exciting young pianists on the scene, working with the likes of Tomasz Stanko, Steve Coleman and Chris Potter. Mbókò, his third release as leader and his first for the ECM label, draws on those experiences and fuses them with sacred themes and ritual music from his homeland. 

Performed live, it makes for an immersive set of piano meditations, underscored by bass drones from Vicente Archer and textural kit playing from Gerald Cleaver. 

Adding a further layer of rhythmic complexity and ramping up the sacred dimension is Román Díaz on vocals and biankoméko, a set of four hand drums traditionally used by members of Afro-Cuban abakuás - secret societies dedicated to the worship of forest-dwelling spirits. 

Presenter: Jez Nelson
Producer: Chris Elcombe.

Live music and the arts: broadcasts more live music than any other radio network. Classical music is its core. Genres include world and new music, jazz, speech and drama.

Accessibility links

Programme Index

Jazz on 3

David Virelles

Genres

Brand

BBC Radio 3

About BBC Radio 3