New York City-based, Puerto Rican-born guitarist, composer, and visual artist Gabriel Vicéns releases his fifth studio album, Niebla, a boundary-defying work that merges the vibrant rhythms of Afro-Puerto Rican folklore with the harmonic richness of modern jazz and the fearless spirit of avant-garde experimentation.
Niebla (which translates to “fog”) is a sonic journey through the cultural and emotional depths of identity, tradition, and innovation. Rooted in the rhythms of bomba and plena, the album pulses with ancestral energy while venturing into new territory through complex jazz harmonies, spontaneous improvisation, and experimental textures. The result is a sound world at once grounded and exploratory, reverent and radical. “This album is a conversation across time,” says Vicéns. “It’s my way of honoring the rhythms of Puerto Rico while opening them to contemporary expression and sonic experimentation, a space where ancestral memory, diasporic identity, and creative freedom intersect.”
But Vicéns is not only honoring the rhythms of his native Puerto Rico, he is also showcasing the masterful sound of a handmade classical guitar, built in 1987 by esteemed Puerto Rican luthier Fidencio Díaz, which can be heard on three of the tracks. “Puerto Rico has a deep-rooted tradition of luthiery, and I’ve been exploring that history while learning about the work of Díaz, Manuel Velázquez, Rafael Rosado, Manuel Rodríguez ‘Feneque,’ and many others. I’m actually working on my sixth album now, recorded entirely with the Díaz guitar.”
Featuring the same core band that recorded on Vicéns’ third studio album, The Way We Are Created (Inner Circle Music, 2021), this new release brings together Roman Filiú on alto saxophone, Rick Rosato on bass, E.J. Strickland on drums, Victor Pablo on percussion, and Vitor Gonçalves, who replaces Glenn Zaleski on piano. Together, they form an ensemble of daring musicians who move fluidly through propulsive rhythms, burning solos, shifting time signatures, dissonant sonorities, textural improvisations, and moments of meditative stillness. The record invites listeners into a sonic landscape that is as fascinating as it is diverse.
