Ramon Valle - Inner State

With these live recordings, Cuban pianist Ram�n Valle shows how the music of his native land combines with urban sophistication to create a new language, how Cuban roots merge with stupendous technical mastery to create truly great sounds. Six original songs and a stunning version of Leonard Cohen�s Hallelujah.

The pieces recorded live in the Viennese Porgy & Bess and the Kassel Theaterst�bchen span Valle's repertoire of the past 25 years. There is his anthem of his early years, Levitando, which is an exuberant virtuoso piece as well as a tender one, a free-floating flight over the keys that shows the overflowing creativity of this man. He implements his ideas of Cuban music in the 21st century in Mamita Yo Te Quiero. An equally fantastic alloy of Cuban tumbao and pianistic brilliance is Little, Irreplaceable Things, an homage to the little things in life, a flower, a smile - with an ostinato at the end that sounds a lot like the James Bond soundtrack theme.

Ram�n Valle shows his thoughtful side in Free At Last, a ballad created from a studio improvisation for his ACT album Memorias, free in its expression and free in its modal sound. And he reveals his love for songs with his adaptation of Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah.