Sept. 15-Oct. 15 is Hispanic Heritage Month here in the U.S. Lest anyone forget that some of our greatest Latino musical artists were and are Afro-Latino, for this week’s Black Music Sunday, we’re going to pay tribute to multiple award-winning pianist and composer Chucho Valdés, born as Dionisio de Jesús Valdés Rodríguez on Oct. 9, 1941, in Quivicán, Cuba.
Young Chucho—now 81—was the son of prominent Latin jazz pianist Ramon Bebo Valdés, and began playing the piano as a toddler. He would grow up to become one of the most famous innovators in the world of Afro-Latin jazz and in spite of the fraught politics between the United States and Cuba, he would garner some of the most prestigious awards in the American musical academy.
We have been enriched by his music for decades, and this is a great time to show appreciation for the gifts he has blessed us with.
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Gretchen VanMonette wrote a biography of Valdés for Musician Guide:
Due to the political and social embargo the United States imposed upon Cuba the last half of the 1900s, it is not unusual for many people in the United States to shrug at the mention of Jesus "Chucho" Valdes. Yet throughout the world, the Cuban bandleader is considered one of the most influential pianists of his generation. Valdes began playing piano at the age of three and discovered jazz two years later. His father, prominent jazz pianists Bebo Valdes, encouraged his son's musical path. In fact, the young musician often played with the orchestras his father directed. At the age of 16 Valdes formed his first jazz trio. He continued to study music and would perform with various jazz groups throughout his early years. While performing with the Orquesta Cubana de Musica Moderna, he decided to form the long enduring and popular group Irakere.
While grooming his son, Chuchito, to take over his role as bandleader, composer and arranger of Irakere, Valdes focused his energies elsewhere. "In Irakere, I developed myself as a composer and arranger, and in the process I let go of the piano a little bit," Valdes told Ben Ratliff in an on-line article at latinolink.com. "I want to play the piano... it's now or never," he explained. Not only revered as incredible jazz musicians, Irakere was considered the best salsa dance band in Cuba. Cuban musician Jose Luis Cortes suggested that Irakere could easily be considered the Rolling Stones of Cuba, referring to the super-star rock band.
Since its formation in 1973, Irakere has made quite an impact on Cuban music. "Irakere is one of the bands that symbolize modern Cuba, one of the most popular bands, very much present as part of the Havana cultural scene and all over the island," said Qbadisc record label owner Neb Sublette during a 1994 National Public Radio interview. Sublette recalls seeing Irakere perform at La Tropical, a giant beer garden in Havana, and watching thousands of "young, mostly black, kids dancing their brains out to this 15-piece band blowing away."
Valdés’ own website lists his kudos, collected over a lifetime.
In a career spanning more than 60 years, both as a solo artist and bandleader, Mr. Valdés has distilled elements of the Afro-Cuban music tradition, jazz, classical music, rock, and more, into a deeply personal style. Winner of seven GRAMMY® and four Latin GRAMMY® Awards, Mr. Valdés received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Latin Academy of Recording Arts & Science last year and was also inducted in the Latin Songwriters Hall of Fame.
His most recent project on record, Jazz Batá 2, revisits a revolutionary idea Mr. Valdés first recorded in 1972: a piano jazz trio featuring batá drums, the sacred, hourglass-shaped drums used in the ritual music of the Yoruba religion in Cuba, in place of the conventional trap set.
Jazz Batá 2 won a Latin Grammy as Best Latin Jazz album and was selected as one of Billboard magazine's list of The 50 Best Latin Albums of the Decade.
Chucho Valdés and Irakere: Latin Jazz Founders is a documentary released in 2005, directed by Ileana Rodriguez Pelegrin. The film profiles him, and many of the musicians he worked with, as they developed a radical new form of music. You can watch the entire film—just shy of two hours—below.
Lucumi Music describes the film:
If you want to know what became of the greatest Cuban musician of the last 30 years, you will find the answer in Chucho Valdes featuring Irakere: Latin Jazz Founders. Directed by Ilena Rodriguez, this DVD tells the story of one of the most legendary groups in modern Cuban popular music: Irakere. It features live performances of "Misa Negra," "Chango," "Stella Va A Estallar" and many others as well as interviews with Chucho and Oscar Valdez, Carlos Emilio Morales, Juilio Padron and many more.Impossible to overestimate, the influence of Jesus "Chucho" Valdes on Cuban music is evident in virtually everything that comes out of the country. The founder of the Afro-Cuban jazz group Irakere, Valdes and his immensely talented, innovative band paved the way for the success of Cuban music internationally, becoming the first Cuban band signed to an American label, and traveling extensively in the U.S. despite restrictions.
The group's name refers to a storied Yoruba drummer, and Irakere incorporated the percussive sounds of Africa into traditional Cuban son music and contemporary jazz. Ilena Rodriguez's documentary tells the story of this legendary band, and answers questions as to where the musicians are now. Included are interviews with Chucho and Oscar Valdez, Carlos Emilio Morales, Juilio Oadron, and others, while live performances of "Misa Negra," "Chango," and "Stella Va A Estallar" are also featured.
I’ve watched the film several times with my husband Nadhiyr, who is a drummer/percussionist. Any musician will get a lot out of hearing about the challenges the group faced in bringing together audiences composed of both classical “sit in your seat and listen” types and those who come from the dance club milieu.
In the film, Valdés talks about recording “Bacalao con Pan” (“Dried Salted Codfish with Bread”) which was danceable; it was their first tune using bata drums, which are part of the Afro-Cuban sacred tradition, brought by enslaved Africans to Cuba from Yoruba-land.
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Here’s a live version.
Some readers may be familiar with the cover released by Santana on the 2010 "Legacy Edition" of 1999’s record-breaking album Supernatural.
The next step in the road to fame for Valdés was when Irakere got permission to leave Cuba to perform at the Newport Jazz Festival as part of an agreement with Columbia Records. The subsequent album, recorded live at Newport and Montreux, won them a Grammy in 1979.
The live album opens with the sound of the sacred bata drums and the bells they are “dressed” with.
Recording for Blue Note Records, Valdés produced several masterpieces. My favorite is Live at the Village Vanguard, which was released in 2000 and won a 2001 Grammy for Best Latin Jazz Album.
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Here’s “Drume Negrita,” with vocals by Chucho’s sister Mayra Caridad Valdés.
(See lyrics in Spanish and English.)
On that same album, Valdés pays tribute to jazz pianist Bud Powell while demonstrating his own jazz piano virtuosity.
In April 2016, Valdés performed at the White House for President Barack Obama as part of an International Jazz Day celebration.
You can watch that epic performance below; Valdés sets the tone for the joyful collaboration of bonafide all-stars.
In 2020, Claudia Morales from the Library of Congress interviewed Valdés.
There are many other aspects to Valdés’ life story—shaped not just by music, but by the divide between Cuba and the U.S. Some of that story is told by jazz and arts writer Fernando González in Mambo Influenciado: The Memoirs of Chucho Valdés.
He describes the scene at Irakere’s appearance at the Newport Jazz Festival at Carnegie Hall on June 28, 1978:
It had taken years to get here, hard work yes, but also persistence, patience and a certain poise to bargain with the cultural commissars of the Cuban Revolution. After all, for a while, jazz was a four-letter word in Cuba. “Imperialistic music,” they called it. Drum kits and cymbals were forbidden.
But on that evening, he had no time to gloat. As he surveyed the scene, Jesus “Chucho” Valdés, Irakere’s pianist, founder, main composer and arranger, was thinking about something else entirely. His first teacher and role model, not just as a musician but as a man, was somewhere in the hall: his father, Bebo Valdés.
At odds with the Revolution, Bebo Valdés, who, as a pianist, arranger and bandleader, had been a leading figure in the Golden Age of Cuban music, had left Cuba in October 1960. It was going to be, he told Chucho, “just for three months, until things settle down.” But Bebo never returned. He eventually settled in Sweden, started a new family and made a new life for himself. Now he had come to New York to see Chucho.
He got to see his dad, but Valdés describes it as an anxious moment.
“We took pictures with everybody, and when I went out, there was Bebo. He was hiding. He didn’t want to be seen because he was concerned that it might be a problem for me. If my father was there, it was possible that I would leave with him, so there was always someone [from Cuban State Security] watching. He stayed hidden, and someone gave me the signal to go to a certain place and meet him. And when I met with him and my aunt and her husband, you can imagine the hugs, the crying … it was like an explosion. We’d had some letters. Very few calls. I couldn’t call from Cuba. And he couldn’t call me. But I know that he wrote to my grandmother, they wrote to each other.”
Valdés had also been separated from his long time friend and co-groundbreaking Cuban musician “compadre” Paquito D’Rivera. For Jazz with an Accent, Gonzalez tells the story of their separation and reuniting—and their “indestructible bonds.”
After 42 years of distance and silences, old friends and bandmates Paquito D’Rivera and Chucho Valdés have reunited, recorded a new album, and are readying to perform together again.
“I’m so proud,” says alto saxophonist, clarinetist and composer D’Rivera in a conversation at Valdés’ house following the final rehearsal for the recording sessions in January. “My life couldn’t end without … ,” he begins, pausing a moment to gather himself. “Chucho,” he continues. “Chucho is part of my life. His father was a close friend of my father. [Our friendship] is something that comes from a long way back. The first song Chucho wrote that became famous was called ‘Indestructible.’ That’s our relationship: indestructible.”
Sitting next to D’Rivera, pianist and composer Valdés nods quietly in agreement. “Today has been one of the happiest days of my life,” he says. “I adored this man, and I’ll always adore him. I missed him. Paquito is part of my life. I believe I played with his father, Tito, a great saxophone player, before I played with him. And Paquito for me is [my father] Bebo, [my mother] Pilar, he’s family, and musically, he’s so important for me. There are many great players, but Paquito is unique.”
Here’s “Claudia,” from their coming together again album, aptly titled I Missed You Too.
I know I should stop here for my editor’s sake; however, I have to add just one more tune from Valdés’ latest creation. Literally called La Creación (The Creation), it is described this way on his website:
A three-movement suite for small ensemble, voices, and big band La Creación (The Creation) tells the history of creation according to the Regla de Ocha, the Afro-Cuban religion commonly known as Santería. La Creación had its world premiere on November 5, 2021, at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts in Miami and was later presented in Lyon, Paris, and Barcelona.
Mr. Valdés called La Creación "a summation of all my experiences in music -- up to today," emphasis on "today." "We are working on something else …" he said at the time, his voice trailing. He paused for a second before drawing a Cheshire cat smile and deadpanning, "I'm just coming into my second adolescence."
As a practitioner of the Afro-Cuban diasporic religious tradition myself, you know I couldn’t wait to hear this performance.
You can watch the entire performance for free over at MediciTv.
With that, let me once again wish Chucho Valdés ¡Feliz cumpleaños! Join me in the comments to do the same and hear lots more of his wonderful music.