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Gabriel Vicéns

Acclaimed by Downbeat Magazine as “a thoughtful improviser with a quiet tone who makes every note count," Manhattan-based guitarist, composer, improviser, and painter Gabriel Vicéns is one of the most in-demand guitarists on the New York City jazz scene. Originally from Guaynabo, Puerto Rico, Vicéns made a move to NYC after a four-year Professorship at the Interamerican University of Puerto Rico. He has been mentored by an impressive list of performers and composers, including Ray Anderson, Carlos Cabrer, Miguel Zenón, David Sánchez, Daria Semegen, Paul Bollenback, Antonio Hart, Fernando Mattina, Lois V Vierk, and Luis Perdomo. Legendary bassist Eddie Gómez says Vicéns is “a creative musician that displays a new vision on the guitar.” Vicéns playing and compositions are influenced by many genres, ranging from jazz, rock, new classical music, electronic music, and the Caribbean and Latin American folklore.

Vicéns has been featured at venues and festivals such as Puerto Rico Heineken Jazz Fest, SF Jazz Center in San Francisco, Ljubljana Jazz Festival in Slovenia, Uno Jazz San Remo Festival in Italy, and the Festival Havana World Music in Cuba. In New York, he frequents prominent venues such as The Cell Theater, Cornelia Street Cafe, Latea Theater, Fat Cat, The Owl Music Parlor, and Terraza 7 both as a leader of his own groups and as a sideman. He is a member of the free improvisational collaborative group No Base Trio, alongside alto saxophonist Jonathan Suazo and drummer Leonardo Osuna. Vicéns has performed and worked with artists such as Alex Sipiagin, David Sánchez, Miguel Zenón, Luis Perdomo, Paoli Mejias, Will Vinson, Rudy Royston, among others. Internationally, he has performed throughout Slovenia, Italy, Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the states.

As a painter, Vicéns is currently studying at The Art Students League of New York with renowned artist Pat Lipsky and has shown his work in many venues throughout the city. In 2018, Vicéns was invited to participate in the group exhibition Dislexia Geografica held at The Clemente Soto Vélez: Cultural and Educational Center featuring a wide range of artists from Latin America. Currently, Vicéns is actively painting and working on a project comprised of composing music inspired by his paintings and crafting paintings inspired by his music.

Vicéns holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the Conservatory of Music of Puerto Rico, a Master of Music degree from Queens College and is currently pursuing a Doctor of Musical Arts degree at Stony Brook University.

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68
Album Review

No Base Trio: NBT II

Read "NBT II" reviewed by Mike Jurkovic


On their often pulse-quickening, wholly improvised double disc, NBT II, the intrepid No Base Trio—alto saxophonist Jonathan Suazo, guitarist Gabriel Vicéns and drummer Leonardo Osuna— draw on their own inner tensions and tenacity for a roiling and immersive exploration of jazz's more open-ended, less categorized, freer regions. Picking up where 2020's cascading debut No Base Trio (Setola di Maiale) left off, NBT instigate and inhabit the shadowlands. Snatches of their native Puerto Rican folk dance roll like cumulus ...

92
Album Review

Gabriel Vicéns: The Way We Are Created

Read "The Way We Are Created" reviewed by Mark Sullivan


Puerto Rican jazz guitarist & composer Gabriel Vicéns has been living in New York City since 2016 but, for this album, he chose to explore traditional Puerto Rican music (Bomba and Plena—music and dance styles born from African slavery and Caribbean influences) blended with his own compositional style. He was also exposed to Cuban Changüí, and began incorporating some stylistic devices from it into his guitar playing. The title tune begins the program with an infectious ostinato pattern ...

182
Interview

Gabriel Vicéns: A Growing Voice In Jazz

Read "Gabriel Vicéns: A Growing Voice In Jazz" reviewed by R.J. DeLuke


Guitarist Gabriel Vicéns from Guaynabo, Puerto Rico, has only been on the New York City scene for about five years. But his rich tone and engaging style have gained him a reputation--still growing--as a remarkable voice and an artist with something valid to say. He's not a guitar shredder, though he has plenty of technique. Rather he wins people over with his silky approach and sweet sound. His music--he is a thoughtful composer--brings rhythms from different musical arenas. ...

31
Radio & Podcasts

New Albums With Great Guitarists

Read "New Albums With Great Guitarists" reviewed by Bob Osborne


On this show we feature fantastic new albums from bands featuring great guitarists. There is also a round-up of some of the end of year releases in 2020, including an amazing live recording by Tim Berne's Science Friction band from 2003, and new music from the ears&eyes label. Playlist Gabriel Vicéns “The Way We Are Created" from The Way We Are Created (Inner Circle Music) 00:00 Derupeto “Vanessa" from Derupeto (Nobelrecords) 10:18 Mach 6 “Si Annida" from Take ...

74
Album Review

Jonathan Suazo / Gabriel Vicens / Leonardo Osuna: No Base Trio

Read "No Base Trio" reviewed by Mike Jurkovic


There's an eery sumptuousness to the gravity-free, genre-less sound of No Base Trio that makes it incredibly difficult to get on with the day. The slant and tilt of modular sonic eruptions grab immediate attention. Its cascading, formless ambience affords strange new spaces to inhabit, explore, and contemplate during lockdown. Hailing from Puerto Rico, this debut recording features the imaginative, often volatile union of guitarist Gabriel Vicéns, alto saxophonist Jonathan Suazo and drummer Leonardo Osuna threading the free ...

8
Album Review

Joan Torres's All Is Fused: Revolution

Read "Revolution" reviewed by Paul Naser


Amidst the chaos that is the year 2020, Joan Torres's All Is Fused has found the time to release an alt take of the closer from their 2019 album, Revolution (Self Produced). The new version of “Finale" is a collaboration with bass virtuoso Bubby Lewis. Of the collaboration, Torres says: “I wanted someone who was a bit of a kindred spirit in this musical journey but with a considerably different style. The stars then lined up somehow because Bubby Lewis....was ...

8
Album Review

Joan Torres's All Is Fused: Revolution

Read "Revolution" reviewed by Paul Naser


Since the band's last record, Of The Musical (Self Produced, 2016), Joan Torres' All Is Fused has taken time to dig deeper into its influences and expand its sound. This year All Is Fused returns with an evolved vibe that finds it delving deep into fusion and Latin with a slight nod to the avant-garde and Thundercat among other styles. The result is Revolution.The album begins with the on-topic, high intensity “Rebellion." Torres, who serves as the project's ...

Read more articles
"Guitarist-composer Gabriel Vicéns, a leading light of Puerto Rico’s Rico’s jazz scene, flaunts a modernist sensibility on his impressive debut as a leader" Bill Milkowski, Jazz Times Magazine

"A rising jazz guitarist... Vicéns has provided a splendid recording that conveys a clear representation of his culture and individuality" Mark F. Turner, All About Jazz

"Puerto Rican guitarist Gabriel Vicéns shows signs of being one of the new aces of mainstream guitar" Mark Keresman, Jazz Inside Magazine

"A thoughtful improviser with a quiet tone who makes every note count" Scott Yanow, Downbeat Magazine

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Photos

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Ricano

Ropeadope
2023

buy

NBT II

Setola di Maiale
2022

buy

The Way We Are Created

Inner Circle Music
2021

buy

No Base Trio

Setola di Maiale
2020

buy

Coming Back

Outside in Music
2019

buy

Revolution

Self Produced
2019

buy

The World In My View (feat. David Sánchez)

From: Point in Time
By Gabriel Vicéns

Videos

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