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Gabriel Vicéns

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Gabriel Vicéns
Vicéns performing at the SFJAZZ Center, 2018
Vicéns performing at the SFJAZZ Center, 2018
Background information
Born (1988-03-16) March 16, 1988
Guaynabo, Puerto Rico
GenresJazz, Experimental, Classical
OccupationMusician
InstrumentGuitar
Years active2005–present
LabelClepsydra Records[1] Inner Circle Music[2] Setola di Maiale[3] Stradivarius[4]
Websitewww.gabrielvicens.com

Gabriel Vicéns (born March 16, 1988) is a Puerto Rican guitarist, composer, and producer, as well as a bandleader, educator, and visual artist based in New York City.[5]

Early life and education

Born and raised in Guaynabo, Puerto Rico, Vicéns began his musical training at the age of 14 and soon performed jazz in local clubs. He attended the Conservatorio de Música de Puerto Rico, where he earned a Bachelor of Music in Jazz and Caribbean Music studies, graduating summa cum laude in 2010 as the program's first guitarist.[6]

In 2016, he moved to New York City and attended Queens College, where he received a Master of Music in 2017.[7][8] Between 2019 and 2021, Vicéns studied painting at The Art Students League of New York with Pat Lipsky.[7]

In 2022, he earned a Doctor of Musical Arts in Jazz Studies and Performance from Stony Brook University, where he studied under Ray Anderson.[9] His guitar teachers include Fernando Mattina and Paul Bollenback, and he studied composition with Carlos Cabrer, Daria Semegen, Lois V Vierk, and Antoine Beuger.[9]

Career

Vicéns leads several ensembles and has collaborated with artists including Eddie Gómez, David Sánchez, Alex Sipiagin, and Miguel Zenón.[10] He became an adjunct professor at the Interamerican University of Puerto Rico at age 24, where he taught private guitar lessons until 2015.[11]

He has released five studio albums as a leader: Point In Time (2012),[12][13] Days (2015),[14][15] The Way We Are Created (2021),[16][17] Mural (2024),[18][19] and Niebla (2026).[20][21][22] His second and third albums were released on Greg Osby's Inner Circle Music. Mural, issued by the Milan-based label Stradivarius, consists of contemporary chamber works.[23][24] Niebla was released on his own label, Clepsydra Records.[25]

Vicéns is also co-leader of the free improvisation group No Base Trio, formed in 2010 in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The trio has released two albums on the label Setola di Maiale: No Base Trio (2020) and NBT II (2022).[26][27]

His compositions are published by Edition Wandelweiser and Edition Musicali Stradivarius.[28][29]

In 2023, he received a Chamber Music America New Jazz Works award.[30] His work has been reviewed in publications such as DownBeat,[31] JazzTimes,[32] Fanfare,[33] American Record Guide,[34] All About Jazz,[35] Jazzwise,[36] Musica Jazz,[37] Jazz Journal,[38] Neue Musikzeitung,[39] Blow Up,[40] Jazz Inside,[41] El Nuevo Día,[42] El Vocero,[43] and Fundación Nacional para la Cultura Popular.[44]

Recordings and reception

Gabriel Vicéns’s debut album Point in Time (2012) was described by Bill Milkowski of JazzTimes as the work of a “leading light of Puerto Rico’s jazz scene,” noting its modernist sensibility, warm-toned guitar style, and comparisons to contemporary jazz guitarists such as Kurt Rosenwinkel, Mike Moreno, and Ben Monder.[45] Writing in All About Jazz, Dan Bilawsky highlighted Vicéns’s decision to remain in Puerto Rico for his studies rather than attend Berklee College of Music, describing the album as reflecting an emerging compositional identity characterized by patience, maturity, and strong ensemble interplay with alto saxophonist Jonathan Suazo.[46] In JAZZIZ, James Rozzi highlighted the album’s “beautifully crafted” modern compositions and the band’s “stellar” performances, noting the presence of guest musicians including tenor saxophonist David Sánchez and bassist Eddie Gómez.[47]

Vicéns’s second album Days (2015) has been described by Mark F. Turner of All About Jazz as combining post-bop jazz with rock-influenced energy and Latin rhythmic elements, featuring musicians including saxophonist David Sánchez and trumpeter Alex Sipiagin.[48] Turner highlighted its melodic hooks, ensemble interplay, and extended improvisational structures, while Scott Yanow of DownBeat characterized Vicéns as a “thoughtful improviser” working within a modern post-bop framework.[49] Writing in Jazz Podium, Alexander Schmitz emphasized Vicéns’s collaborative approach, describing him as a “team player” whose music avoids stylistic clichés and reflects a transnational modern jazz aesthetic.[50]

Gabriel Vicéns’s album The Way We Are Created (2021), reviewed by Mark Sullivan of All About Jazz and Mike Hobart of Jazzwise, draws on Afro-Caribbean musical traditions, particularly Puerto Rican bomba and plena, as well as elements of Cuban changüí.[51][52] Critics described the album as integrating these influences into a contemporary jazz framework through ostinato-based structures, rhythmic grooves, and coordinated ensemble writing. Hobart also noted influences from New York jazz figures such as Greg Osby and Miguel Zenón, highlighting a “painterly” compositional approach marked by contrast and clarity of ensemble interaction.[53] Writing in Jazz Journal, Roger Farbey emphasized Vicéns’s melodic guitar approach, often favoring single-note lines over chordal textures, and noted elements drawn from folk, Latin, and popular music, as well as careful attention to ensemble balance and arrangement.[54]

Vicéns’s chamber music work Mural (2024) has been discussed in relation to contemporary classical traditions. Critics including Gary Higginson of MusicWeb International and David DeBoor Canfield of Fanfare have identified influences from Morton Feldman, Anton Webern, and Arnold Schoenberg, particularly in the use of sparse textures, pointillistic writing, and an emphasis on timbre, silence, and spatial organization.[55][56] The work has been described as “evocative and arresting” and “immersive and mood-inducing.” Writing in American Record Guide, Rob Haskins emphasized Vicéns’s attention to sonic detail, likening aspects of the music to “sounding sculptures,” and highlighted its formal processes of accumulation and dissolution, as well as its use of fragmentation and shifting textures.[57]

His later album Niebla (2026) has received attention from jazz and mainstream critics for its stylistic diversity and contrast-driven structure. Ammar Kalia of The Guardian described it as “a joyous journey through Latin bomba rhythm and the intricate ensemble sound” of Vicéns’s sextet.[58] Writing in JazzTimes, Eric Snider characterized the album as “high-minded music rife with extremes,” highlighting its combination of complex polyrhythms, angular melodic writing, and extended passages of silence and spatial openness.[59] In DownBeat, Josef Woodard emphasized the album’s integration of jazz, contemporary classical elements, and Puerto Rican musical heritage, as well as its conceptual influences drawn from visual art and cinema, citing figures such as Mark Rothko, Michelangelo Antonioni, and Tsai Ming-liang, and describing the work as a cohesive yet exploratory and poetic musical statement.[60]

No Base Trio

Gabriel Vicéns is a co-leader of the No Base Trio, an experimental trio consisting of Vicéns on guitar, alto saxophonist Jonathan Suazo (also synthesizer and EWI), and drummer Leonardo Osuna.[61][62]

The trio’s music is entirely collectively improvised and emphasizes extended-form development, timbral exploration, and dense rhythmic interaction, with reviewers noting the absence of a bass instrument as central to its sound.[63][64]

The group’s 2020 debut album was described in All About Jazz as featuring an “eerie sumptuousness” and a “gravity-free, genre-less sound” characterized by shifting sonic textures and open-form improvisation.[65] Writing in Avant Music News, Daniel Barbiero characterized the recording as attentively crafted improvised music shaped by an eclectic set of influences, with strong ensemble cohesion and forward motion despite its open structure.[66] In The Free Jazz Collective, Paul Acquaro described the album as “a welcome surprise,” highlighting its blend of ambient rock textures, electronic elements, and free improvisation, and noting the trio’s evolution from a more traditional jazz format toward a layered, texturally driven approach.[67]

Their second album, NBT II (2022), consists of extended collectively improvised performances with gradual structural evolution, alternating between restrained atmospheric passages and more intense, rhythmically dense sections.[68] Writing in Jazz Journal, Roger Farbey described the album as a challenging but rewarding set of improvisations, highlighting the trio’s ability to listen and respond in real time and noting its emphasis on dynamic contrast and long-form development.[69] In another review for All About Jazz, Mike Jurkovic characterized the recording as a “wholly improvised” and “immersive exploration” of open-ended and less categorized forms of jazz, noting its fluid expansion and contraction of musical ideas and its emphasis on abstraction, textural interplay, and expressive freedom.[70]

Selected works

  • Carnal, for violin and piano (2019)
  • Una Superficie Sin Rostro, for piano (2020)
  • Sueños Ligados, for violin, cello, and piano (2020)
  • Mural, for clarinet, violin, and piano (2021)
  • La Esfera, for cello and piano (2021)
  • Ficción, for flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, and horn (2021)
  • El Matorral, for flute, clarinet, violin, cello, piano, and vibraphone (2022)

Discography

As leader

Release year Title Label Personnel
2012 Point In Time Self-Released Gabriel Vicéns (guitar and compositions), Jonathan Suazo (alto saxophone), David Sánchez (tenor saxophone), Eduardo Zayas (piano), Eddie Gomez (bass), Matt Clohesy (bass), and Vladimir Coronel (drums)
2015 Days Inner Circle Music Gabriel Vicéns (guitar and compositions), Alex Sipiagin (trumpet and flugelhorn), Jonathan Suazo (alto saxophone), David Sánchez (tenor saxophone), Bienvenido Dinzey (piano), Leonardo Osuna (drums), and Paoli Mejias (percussion)
2021 The Way We Are Created Inner Circle Music Gabriel Vicéns (guitar and compositions), Roman Filiú (alto saxophone), Glenn Zaleski (piano), Rick Rosato (bass), E.J. Strickland (drums), and Victor Pablo (percussion)
2024 Mural Stradivarius Gabriel Vicéns (compositions), Roberta Michel (flute), Raissa Fahlman (clarinet), Joenne Dumitrascu (violin), Adrianne Munden-Dixon (violin), Rocío Díaz de Cossío (cello), Wick Simmons (cello), Julia Henderson (cello), Corinne Penner (piano), Mayumi Tsuchida (piano), Mikael Darmanie (piano), John Ling (vibraphone), David Bloom (conductor), and Nu Quintet
2026 Niebla Clepsydra Records Gabriel Vicéns (guitar and compositions), Roman Filiú (alto saxophone), Vitor Gonçalves (piano), Rick Rosato (bass), E.J. Strickland (drums), and Victor Pablo (percussion)

As co-leader

Release year Artist Title Label Personnel
2020 No Base Trio No Base Trio Setola di Maiale Jonathan Suazo (alto saxophone), Gabriel Vicéns (guitar), and Leonardo Osuna (drums)
2022 No Base Trio NBT II Setola di Maiale Jonathan Suazo (alto saxophone and flute), Gabriel Vicéns (guitar), and Leonardo Osuna (drums)

As sideman

Release year Artist Title Label
2012 Jonathan Suazo Extracts of a Desire Self-Released
2012 SM Quinteto Historias, Cuentos y Canciones Self-Released
2012 Joan Torres' All Is Fused Before Self-Released
2014 5 Esquinas Tamarindo Self-Released
2014 Joan Torres' All Is Fused The Beginning Self-Released
2014 Jonathan Suazo Vital Self-Released
2016 Joan Torres' All Is Fused Of the Musical Self-Released
2018 Fernando García Guasábara Puerto Rico Zoho Music
2018 Pasha Karchevsky Hope Inner Circle Music
2019 Pablo Campos Enfoque Self-Released
2019 Joan Torres' All Is Fused Revolution Self-Released
2019 Andre Carvalho Outside in Music, Vol. 3 - Live at Pinch Recording Outside In Music
2022 Slavo Rican Assembly Intercosmic World Music Network
2023 Joan Torres' All Is Fused Embrace Form Self-Released
2023 Fernando García Behique Sunnyside Records
2023 Jonathan Suazo Ricano Ropeadope Records
2026 Fernando García Yocahú Pinch Records

References

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