Chucho Valdés

[Sorry, sorry, sorry! This post will be up until Sunday March 26th. After that, I promise something extra special]

Link (Chucho Valdez sitio oficial):
http://www.valdeschucho.com/

Name: Jesus "Chucho" Valdés
Born: October 9, 1941
Instrument: Piano

"The important thing is always the phrase . Breathe through the music and each other."

Quivican, Cuba:
Chucho was born and raised in Cuba, and not much has changed there since the year he was born. Cars (those that are still running) are old 40's and 50's style, building interiors haven't been altered and sit, dusty and antiqued, like haunted mansions, and don't even get me started on the elevators. Get in an elevator in Cuba, hit a button and roll a dice. Neither number will be the floor it takes you to. (And that is in a five story building!) Yet the fact of the matter is no amount of broken elevators can detract from that which is the heart and soul of Cuba, it's music. The music scene in Cuba is amazing. Students at the Havana music school, considered amateur in Cuba, play so well that any seasoned New York musician would be envious. Moved to tears even. It must be something in the Cuban culture, in their blood, as it sure isn't down to their gear. Often people are under the misconception that to achieve a wonderful sound, a musician must have an instrument that has been crafted perfecty to create the exact acoustic environment to enhance sound and improve tone. Cuban drummers lap old x-rays from the hospital over rings and use them as skins, yet they kick the crap out of any North American or European Jazzmen when it comes to feel and complex polyrhythms. Horn players are blowing amazing music out of instruments that a junior highschool band would reject. It's not the instrument, it's how you use it, and Chucho is among the many Cuban musicians who use their instrument with astounding proficiency.

Passion and Aptitude:
Chucho had his first Jazz trio when he was 16, and continued on to form the popular Orquesta Cubana de Musica Moderna at age 26, and in 1973, the all-time famous Irakere. His father was a world-renouned pianist and composer, and kept a constant rotation of both jazz and traditional cuban records playing their house as Chucho was growing up. The influence of these records could explain Chucho's sound, described as a combination of "Art Tatum, Bill Evans and McCoy Tyner with Afro-Cuban roots and a blazing technique that leaves one breathless and amazed". He has had such a wide-ranging influence that, in his home country, Chucho is referred to as "the Duke Ellington of Cuba". Helping to organize the world famous Havana Jazz festival and giving master classes at the Juiliard School, Chuch helps to promote music in any way he can. It was while forming the festival that Chucho met up with Roy Hargrove, a trumpet player. They found they had much musical ground, and combined skills to work on the Grammy award-winning Cristo. Overall, Chuch has published 31 albums, 5 of which have won Grammy's. Is Chucho still working? Well he was as of the 2003 Havana Jazz Festival, where he KICKED SERIOUS JAZZASS.

Havana Jazz:
The Havana Jazz festival is something incredible to behold, not only for the class of musicians from all over the world which travel to Cuba to participate, but also for the all-night jam sessions and total immersion in a music culture that one can experience. Imagine seeing performances by brilliant Jazz band after brilliant Jazz band, only to head out to a late night club and rub shoulders with the greats, watch them jam, listen to their stories, and then go back to your hotel room to sleep to the sound of street performers that are better than most musicians from wherever you are from, only to get up that evening and do it all over again. If you ever get a chance to go to the Havana Jazz Festival, do.

Peanut Vendor (Chucho with his Dad)

Baila Mi Ritmo (Irakere)