Off his upcoming new album Traveling Light, Rafael Toral unpacks a stunning new single today: “Solitude.” This Duke Ellington number has received many unique treatments over a near-century — from jazzers including Thelonious Monk, Marc Ribot, Matthew Shipp and Mary Halvorson — though this version owes the most to Billie Holiday’s matchless vulnerability. Commencing with an almost sacred air, as if reflecting upon ages of consciousness from a great height, Toral lingers along a reconfigured melodic path, his guitar refining the song’s titular theme with delicate tracery.

Traveling Light lands just eighteen months after Toral's widely-celebrated return to the guitar, Spectral Evolution, flew into our stratosphere and captured the gaze of every land-bound stargazer. His fifteen-some years developing the Space Program — Toral's endeavor to create an orchestral grove of self-made electronics — evolved into these two albums, made in parallel, that launch jazz standards into otherworldly arrangements. Traveling Light is the sound of life: a nexus point for the music of the last century and the music ever unfurling toward the far horizons of the next century.

Traveling Light is out October 24, 2025 on Drag City. Starting next month, Rafael Toral will tour across Europe and the UK, premiering his new music in Venice, Italy at La Biennale di Venezia 2025. Tickets are on sale now.

Rafael Toral 2025/2026 Performances

Oct. 11, 2025 - Venice, Italy @ La Biennale di Venezia
Oct. 18, 2025 - Coimbra, Portugal @ Jazz Ao Centro Clube
Oct. 24, 2025 - Braga, Portugal @ Theatro Circo
Oct. 31, 2025 - Barcelona, Spain @ Casa Montjuïc
Nov. 1, 2025 - Madrid, Spain @ Bcosof
Nov. 12, 2025 - Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, UK @ Star and Shadow
Nov. 14, 2025 - Manchester, UK @ Hallé St Peter's
Nov. 15, 2025 - Bristol, UK @ Strange Brew
Nov. 16, 2025 - London, UK @ Cafe OTO
Nov. 28, 2025 - Florence, Italy @ Centro Pecci
Jan. 21, 2026 - Lisbon, Portugal @ Culturgest