Manuel Valera: Vessel album review — a solid set with atmospheric themes

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Havana-born pianist/composer Manuel Valera is best known for fusing the disparate strands of Latin jazz into a coherent whole. Longtime resident in New York — his family moved to Florida in 1994 — he has released more than a dozen albums and strides across North and South American music with the rigour that won him a 2019 Guggenheim fellowship in composition.

Valera’s most recent release, last year’s Distancia, drew on disparate South American musical styles in an original score for his New Cuban Express big band. Original themes remain a major strength on this new release, Vessel, which features an acoustic quintet. But here compositions honour key influences from the US and sit firmly in the mainstream of contemporary modern jazz.

The album’s core theme-and-variations aesthetic is flagged by the opener “Blues for Kenny K”, a tribute to the late pianist Kenny Kirkland, one-time sideman to Wynton Marsalis and a key figure in the 1980s acoustic-jazz renaissance. Like Kirkland, Valera blends modal strength and light-touch fluency into a personal voice. Keith Jarrett is also noted as an influence on the album’s sleeve, as well as the band Weather Report and Blue Note in its 1960s prime.

That fast-paced first track, a tricky-themed extension of the blues, comes with altered harmonies and a climax of Mark Whitfield Jr drums. The gentle “First Day” follows, a simple motif with unexpected harmonic shifts which the sleeve describes as “Shorteresque”. And then the wistful, gracious and perfectly poised ballad “Pablo”, written for Pablo Milanés, the Cuban singer/guitarist who died in November last year.

Overall, Valera’s writing conjures memories and moods, balances freedom and form and his solos are played with clarity and drive. Multi-instrumentalist John Ellis, furry-toned on tenor sax, is equally astute, and marks out “Alma” as a success with his combinations of bass clarinet and flute. Elsewhere, “Sunset” has a European echo, “Remembrance” is through-composed and fast modal swing is delivered with bite. A solid set, enhanced by the leader’s atmospheric themes and standout improvisations.

★★★☆☆

‘Vessel’ is released by Criss Cross Jazz