Albert Vila - Reality Is Nuance (2023) [Hi-Res]

“Reality is nuance.” Perceiving all the small subtleties of what surrounds us gives us a deeper personal connection with the world, perhaps even defines us as human individuals. Albert's approach to music embraces the intrinsic complexity of nuance as much as it does the need to create simple, evocative melodies.

Until now, Albert has largely recorded and performed original material in larger settings such as quartets or quintets. This time, he wanted to explore his compositional and interpretive skills in a smaller ensemble, and here he is backed by the great double bassist Doug Weiss and the fantastic drummer Rudy Royston. The guitar trio setting can be minimalist, delicate, even a challenging format, especially on an hour-long album. However, Weiss and Royston do an excellent job of mixing styles, textures and capturing a broad tonal palette, and it is the trio playing as a whole that succeeds here.

For a soulful and thoughtful artist like Albert, creating a consistent language was a very personal quest. As Albert explains, “I was truly inspired by the use of polyphony displayed by some classical and jazz pianists, and I wanted to bring some of that universe to the trio guitar form.”

Reality is Nuance marks Albert's seventh album as a leader, and it unequivocally brings his new trio to a zone in which everything coheres as a single unit.