Djazz Cafe

Chucho Valdes

02/07/12
8pm & 9:30pm

CHUCHO VALDÉS
Biography

Winner of FIVE Grammy Awards and THREE Latin Grammy Awards, Dionisio Jesús “Chucho” Valdés Rodríguez has performed all over the world in such prestigious venues as Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Centre and the Hollywood Bowl and has shared the stage with such musical luminaries as Herbie Hancock, Billy Taylor, Chick Corea, Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Brandford and Wynton Marsalis, Carlos Santana, Grover Washington Jr., Dizzy Gillespie, Taj Mahal, and Tito Puente to name but a few.

Born in Havana, Cuba in 1941, the pianist, composer, arranger, band leader and music professor, began his musical life at home under the direction of his parents; his mother Pilar Rodríguez, a singer and piano teacher and his father, the great Bebo Valdés.

At 3 years old, Chucho could already play the melodies he heard on the radio by ear using both hands in any key. And at age 5, Chucho began piano, theory and solfège lessons with professor Oscar Muñoz Boufartique, finishing his studies at the Municipal Music Conservatory of Havana at the age of 14. All the while taking private lessons in piano and composition with such noted teachers as Zenaida Romeu, Rosario Franco, Federico Smith and Leo Brouwer.

At the age of 15 he formed his first Jazz Trio with Emilio del Monte and Luis Rodríguez and went on to work as pianist in the Deauville and St. John Hotels in Havana and played with the “SABOR DE CUBA” Orchestra directed by his father, accompanying important singers of the time like Rolando Laserie, Fernando Alvarez and Pio Leyva.

Between1961 and 1963 he worked as pianist at the Martí Theatre, International Salon of the Havana Riviera Hotel and at the Musical Theatre of the Havana Orchestra. At Leo Brouwer recommendation, he simultaneously created his Combo that in 1965 added the singer Amado Borcela, better known as “Guapachá”, paving the way for a new era of Cuban Popular Music. This Combo was like Irakere´s preamble where many of the founders came together. In 1967 he started with the Cuban Modern Music Orchestra under the direction of Armando Romeu and Rafael Somavilla, and became the group leader before long. In1970 he debuted his Combo in a quintet format at the Jamboree International Jazz Festival in Poland, marking the first time a Cuban group participated in a jazz festival abroad and giving Chucho international recognition as one of the 5 greatest piano players in the world along with Bill Evans, Oscar Peterson, Herbie Hancock and Chick Corea.

In 1972 after recording the LP “JAZZ BATA” with Carlos del Puerto and Oscar Valdés, Chucho decided to add a brass section and drums to his Combo. It was then, in 1973, that he founded “IRAKERE”, widely recognized as the most important group in Cuban Musical history in the second half of 20th century. An explosive mixture of jazz, rock, classical and traditional Cuban Music, “IRAKERE” produced a sound that had never been heard before, that revolutionized Latin music.

In 2006, in a ceremony held at the Vatican, Chucho was named Good Will Ambassador by the Food and Agricultural Association of the United Nations and gives annual benefit concerts in Havana every October 16th—World Food Day.

In 2009 he formed “Chucho Valdés & the Afro-Cuban Messenger”. The group tours internationally and recorded Chucho’s most recent release, “Chucho’s Steps” (2011).

PRIZES AND RECOGNITION

Among others distinctions and recognitions he has received:
- HONORARY DOCTORATE at VICTORIA UNIVERSITY in CANADA 1997.
- “FELIX VARELA ORDER” of FIRST GRADE for artistic merits, given by the STATE COUNCIL of the Republic of Cuba, 1998.
- HONORARY DOCTORATE in ARTS, year 2000, awarded by INSTITUTO SUPERIOR DE ARTE OF HAVANA.
- DISTINCTION TO PEDAGOGIC MERIT in 2001, awarded by INSTITUTO SUPERIOR DE ARTE OF HAVANA.
- NATIONAL CUBAN MUSIC AWARD (shared with Leo Brouwer) in its first edition, 2000.
- Inducted intot he LATIN JAZZ HALL OF FAME in LOS ANGELES, in a ceremony with TITO PUENTE, EDDIE PALMIERI and LALO SHIFFRIN in 2000.
- MUSIC AWARD in SPAIN in JAZZ CATEGORY, 2009 for the CD “Juntos para siempre”, recorded with his father BEBO VALDÉS under label CALLE 54 RECORDS.
- He has received the Keys to the City in PONCE (PUERTO RICO), LOS ÁNGELES AND SAN FRANCISCO, CA, NEW ORLEÁNS, LA, MADISON, WI and most recently in PANAMA CITY in January 2009.

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