Yilian Cañizares on Roots, Ritual, and the Road to Vitamina Y
Yilian Cañizares. Photo: Frank Socha
Havana-born and Switzerland-based, violinist-vocalist Yilian Cañizares moves with uncommon ease between conservatory precision and street-carnival pulse. Her music stitches classical rigor to Afro-Cuban ceremony and jazz’s risk-taking conversation, creating a living language—one heard on the new single “Ore,” the bridge piece “Habana-Bahia,” and a forthcoming EP leading to the full album Vitamina Y.
“Jazz, for me, is freedom,” she says, not as a slogan but as a method. “The freedom to express myself. The freedom to say how I feel in the moment, the freedom to share with my audience my vision of the world—my vision from a Cuban, from a woman, but also from a citizen of the world.” Living abroad since her teens, she adds, has widened that possibility: “I feel like I have this tremendous possibility of being free and of expressing myself in the best way possible.”
That sense of permission—personal, stylistic, spiritual—animates “Ore.” The tune arrived as an unexpected gift from a childhood friend, pianist-composer Yasser “El Gozo,” and instantly reconnected Cañizares to early memories and to the diaspora’s through-line. “It’s so special, especially for Cubans who are all around the world,” she says. “We are trying to keep this music authentic and powerful. It’s a link from our childhood, from our motherland… It’s wonderful to see someone whom I have known since I was six years old. Can you imagine? We are joined together on our path again through music.”
The studio approach for “Ore” matched the theme. “Once again, it’s freedom,” she explains. “I had a lot of freedom to put my own sound on it, my own way of phrasing, to add some vocals… Every song I release needs to come from a very authentic place—a place of honesty—and a place where people get to know me better and get to know my heart a little bit better.”
Her current band sharpens that point. The working trio—bass virtuoso Childo Thomas (Mozambique) and Cuban percussionist Inor Sotolongo—functions as both engine room and council of elders. “They are not only my colleagues but also my friends, and I believe they are the backbone of the music I’m creating right now,” she says. “We have a very particular sound… a precise instrumentation. I think it’s real and nothing like it in the world.” The project’s title honors the people who keep her spirit charged: “Vitamina Y is inspired by all the people that I call my ‘vitamin persons’… I hope that this music has that kind of effect on the people who will listen to it.”
“Jazz, for me, is freedom—the freedom to express how I feel in the moment and to share my vision of the world.”
Cañizares is clear about the mission. “It will bring some positivity in this difficult moment of our humanity… a message of unity, of hope, and something really positive and uplifting for the audience.” To that end, she’s rolling out the music in chapters. “Certainly. We have a single releasing on September 23rd… Then we have two more singles coming before the end of the year,” she says. “When the full album is released in February, I hope that people will have already joined me on this journey.”
The lead teaser is a manifesto in Portuguese. “Yes, it’s called ‘Vamos a Blossom!’—Let’s Bloom!—a lovely and positive track that talks about blooming, wherever you are,” she says. “At whatever stage of life you are in, and to keep blooming.” The image came to her almost like a vision: “A tiny seed under the earth… fighting against gravity to bloom.”
If “Ore” turns inward, “Habana-Bahia”—the 2023 title track recorded in Salvador, Brazil—turns outward, tracing kinship across the Atlantic. “It’s about women’s empowerment, about sisterhood, and also about the powerful link that we have between Cuba and Salvador da Bahia because of our common mother, which is Africa,” Cañizares says. “It unites for me the best of the Afro-Cuban and Afro-Brazilian traditions from my own perspective.”
The perspective is hard-won: a classically trained violinist who found her voice in improvisation, she has earned honors at Montreux and built a body of work that balances chamber poise, folkloric rhythm, and a singer’s directness—proof that virtuosic technique and communal groove can live in the same body.
“Every song has to come from a place of honesty, where people can know my heart a little better.”
That voice thrives in close quarters, which makes the Joe Henderson Lab a natural home. “It’s almost like playing in the living room of some friends: there is not much distance between us, the musicians, and the audience,” she says. “Hopefully, this will create a very special energy… a very special link between us.” The trio format is designed for responsiveness. “I’m so spontaneous that I genuinely like to connect and feel the audience’s energy and then adapt the program accordingly,” Cañizares says. “Each set won’t be the same… we want to deliver something very unique every time we play.”
There will be early looks at what’s coming. “We’ll be giving the SFJAZZ audience early exclusivity on the upcoming album,” she offers, sounding more like a promise than a tease. For a musician whose outlook fuses discipline, inheritance, and improvisation, the stage is where those threads tighten into something immediate.
“The seed is already pushing toward the light,” she says. “We want to deliver something very unique every time we play.”
Show info: Yilian Cañizares, Joe Henderson Lab, SFJAZZ Center — September 25–26; showtimes 7:00 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. Tickets at SFJAZZ.org. For more on Yilian and tour dates: yiliancanizares.com.
