Self Portrait

The Cuban-born pianist Manuel Valera has put out a number of releases since his 2004 debut, iForma Nueva; his 2012 set New Cuban Express was nominated for a GRAMMY®. On Self Portrait, Valera goes it alone for the first time, and the album is a gem. Valera displays great clarity in his playing, never treading into the muddy waters that sometimes mark solo excursions. A cover of Bill Evans’ “Very Early” impresses. Valera honors that late master’s approach, but there's an energetic quality here that's distinct onto itself. Bud Powell’s “Hallucinations” bristles with a herky-jerky rhythm that delights, and a few Latin American classics—Agustin Lara’s “Solamente Una Vez” and Eliseo Grenet’s “Las Perlas de Tu Boca”—are sensitively rendered. Valera is also engaged with the classical tradition, and there are three separate impromptus that derive from the work of George Gershwin, Erik Satie, and Nicolas Slonimsky. Self Portrait closes with an original, “Blues,” that nods to one of the fundaments of American music. The piece, which also has touches of gospel, is a great way to wrap things up.