Chucho Valdés

In 2009 Chucho Valdes, a pianist, instrumentalist, and composer who already had four Grammy Awards and is regarded by specialists as one of the top four jazz players of the world, won the Grammy in the category of Best Latin Jazz Album. He shared the award with his father, Bebo Valdes, with the album Juntos Para Siempre (Together Forever). Father and son, both Cuban piano virtuosos and exceptionally talented composers got together to record this example of their musical greatness after their tour “Juntos para siempre” in Spain.

On this 13-track recording of voice and piano duets, there is no doubt from the first note to the last that you are experiencing the complete mastery of two Cuban music legends. Individually, the genius Valdés brings to his instrument, the piano, and the dramatic, bluesy, off-the-cuff singing (in Spanish) of the husky, pitch-perfect, purely articulated Portuondo, can both easily stand alone. But together, in this setting, they are making magic. You'll hear a variety of themes written by non-published Cuban composers (two by Valdés, ) suggested on the spot in the studio. It allows the two a rare spontaneity and freedom from rhythmic structures that is created, not produced. There are songs of love, regret, straight blues, the indomitable spirit of the oppressed Cuban peoples, pleading for salvation, and especially, lost in depression ("No Puedo Ser Feliz" ("Cannot Be Happy").

Chucho Valdes, Cuba's most famous jazz musician, has rebalanced the repertoire of his Afro-Cuban Messengers on Border-Free, mixing its American-jazz agenda (the group's name deliberately references both Valdes' roots and the late Art Blakey's classic soul-bop Jazz Messengers group) with more extended Latin-American input, and some Native American and Andalusian connections, too. Saxophonist Branford Marsalis, guesting on three tracks, is warmly romantic on tenor on the loping Tabu, agile and fluent on the Cuban dance-shuffle Bebo, and mercurial on a soprano-sax break full of north African microtonalisms on the hurtling, horn-hooting finale, Abdel.

Hace tres años, Nueva Orleans fue arrasada por el Huracán Katrina dejando tras de sí cerca de 1.500 muertos. Esta catástrofe fue la que inspiró al cubano Chucho Valdés para componer su nuevo disco, Canto a Dios, una oración para que "no vuelva a suceder nada igual", ha explicado hoy el músico. En este álbum, que se presenta ahora en España, Chucho Valdés (hijo del también músico cubano Bebo Valdés) ha reunido cinco temas, dos de ellos inéditos, en los que junto con la Orquesta y el Coro Nacional de Cuba fusiona el jazz con la música sinfónica en un tributo a la ciudad de Nueva Orleans, el río Misisipi y África.

The longevity and the durability of the musical relationship between Paquito D’Rivera and Chucho Valdés give a freedom and flexibility to these performances on I Missed You Too! that defies all logic; they certainly go way beyond the kind of politely mannered performances that might ensue when musical friends get together after what seems like an age. In the case of Mr Valdés and Mr D’Rivera it is a relationship that began when the latter was introduced to the former by a revered friend Samuel Téllez.

The pairing of Afro-Mallorcan vocalist Concha Buika and Afro-Cuban pianist Chucho Valdes has apparently been a long time coming. But they are here together on this lovely recording, featuring songs from a wide variety of composers, in a handful of duets, or with the Valdes' band backing them. El Ultimo Trago - translated as "The Last Drink" is as much a tribute to Mexican singer Chavela Vargas, a major influence on Buika.

In 1962, two of the most influential and talented instrumentalists that Cuba ever produced were brought together. Saxophonist/clarinetist Paquito D’Rivera was invited to hear pianist Chucho Valdés at a local club in his Marianao neighborhood of South Havana. The two soon became a musical partnership that helped shape jazz in Cuba. Their paths would separate in 1980 when D’Rivera left Cuba.

As one of Cuba's greatest Latin and Afro-Cuban jazz pianists and long an important bandleader, Jesús Chucho Valdés has earned international renown and a devoted audience of jazz fans. However, the imaginative composer and virtuosic improviser does not waiver from his ability to interpret acknowledged classics. Fantasia Cubana: Variations on Classical Themes demonstrates this attribute and reveals Chucho Valdés in peak form. He pays homage to Ernesto Lecuona, the concert pianist and founder of the Havana Symphony who is generally recognized as the most important Cuban musician of the first half of the 20th century. The recording includes 14 compositions with three completely different takes of "Chopin: Three Faces of Lecuona: La Comparsa"…

Veteran Cuban jazz pianist Chucho Valdes pays tribute to many of his mentors and peers on Chucho's Steps. The first hint of his intention comes with the instrumentation of a sextet also featuring Juan Carlos de Castro Rojo Blanco on drums, Lazaro Rivero Alarcуn on bass, Yaroldy Abreu on percussion, Carlos Miyares Hernandez on tenor saxophone, and Reynaldo Melian Alvarez on trumpet.