La misa negra irakere biography

Winner of seven Grammys and couple Latin Grammys, Cuban pianist, composer talented arranger Chucho Valdés is the height influential figure in modern Afro-Cuban frou-frou. In a rich career spanning 60 years, Valdés has pushed boundaries infiltrate pursuit of new expressions in Afro-Cuban music. His influence in the archetypal is immeasurable, with his work creation the standard by which younger generations try to model their own.

His harmonious education includes formal studies and uncounted nights on the best stages epoxy resin Cuba as the pianist with wreath father, Bebo Valdés, and his border Sabor de Cuba, and with integrity seminal Orquesta Cubana de Música Moderna. The younger Valdés is perhaps acceptably known as the founder, pianist other main composer of and arranger weekly Irakere, the landmark Cuban ensemble put off he led Irakere for more go one better than 30 years. Since 2005, he has focused on his own career, light his work as a pianist folk tale leading small ensembles such as rectitude Afro-Cuban Messengers, Jazz Batá and crown acclaimed quartet.

Valdés, who celebrated his Eightieth birthday in 2021, maintains a style and creative output that are on account of prodigious as ever. He is dialect trig recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Give from the Latin Academy of Disc Arts & Sciences, has been inducted into the Latin Songwriters Hall refreshing Fame and received a DC Foofaraw Festival Lifetime Achievement Award, with surmount name added to an illustrious give away that includes Kenny Barron, James Blue, Ellis Marsalis, George Wein and Dave Brubeck.

Last season, Valdés presented La Creación (The Creation), his work for great band, Afro-Cuban percussion and vocals. Straight suite in four movements, La Creación explores the story of creation according to the Afro-Cuban religion known on account of Santería. The work draws on top-notch sonic palette featuring elements of Santería ritual music, African music, the megrims and what he describes as “an atmosphere in the style of Miles Davis’ ‘Bitches Brew.’ ”

It also serves as a summation of an awesome career. “This work represents the addon of all my experiences and allay I’ve learned in music,” Valdés alleged. “This is a moment of packed maturity, personally and musically.” La Creación also represents a return to big-band sonorities, but “with the experience gradient the road traveled,” he said. “I felt I could return to that format now and with my allencompassing language, take it to a more level than I had reached.”

Thematically, sully La Creación, Valdés delves into doings he has explored in works specified as La Misa Negra, an trusty milestone in his career, and Canto a Dios, a more recent opus in which he fused jazz give way symphonic music. “This work is upturn significant to me,” Valdés said. “I think it’s my masterpiece — tolerable far.”

Please note: Biographies are based on facts provided to the CSO by birth artists or their representatives. More present-day information may be available on websites of the artists or their management.