Jazz Articles about Chucho Valdes

About Chucho Valdes

Live Review

Chucho Valdes with Special Guest Chick Corea at Jazz at Lincoln Center

by Doug Hall
November 21, 2019

Chucho Valdes with Special Guest Chick Corea Jazz at Lincoln Center The Rose Theater New York, NY November 16, 2019 Jazz at Lincoln Center, in the Rose Theater, witnessed a very special meeting which occurred on-stage between two legendary jazz pianists, Chucho Valdés and Chick Corea. Both musically prolific, and having won more than 30 Grammy and Latin Grammy Awards combined while redefining modern music in the process. Chucho Valdés hugged and shook ...

Live Review

Chucho Valdés With Kenny Garrett At SFJAZZ

by Harry S. Pariser
October 17, 2019

Chucho Valdés and Kenny Garrett SFJAZZ San Francisco, CA October 4, 2019 A commanding Cuban pianist, the stately Chucho Valdés is best known as the founder of legendary Cuban band Irakere. Kenny Garrett has played with the Duke Ellington Orchestra and with the late Miles Davis, among others, but has gained notoriety for his work as a solo artist. Since his first recording in 1990, his awards and accolades have steadily piled up.

Radio & Podcasts

Jerry Vivino, Ken Burns Jazz, Quincy Jones and More

by Joe Dimino
December 24, 2018

The long-time member of Conan O'Brien's Basic Cable Band Mr. Jerry Vivino kicks off this week's episode with music from his latest album Coast to Coast recorded with his good friend and legendary jazz cat Bucky Pizzarelli. From there, we move into another great album by the Organ Jazz Trio, a Kansas City institution led by the hearty leader Ken Lovern. From there, the hour goes on with the dynamic and legendary duo of Thad Jones and Mel Lewis off ...

Album Review

Chucho Valdes: Jazz Bata 2

Read "Jazz Bata 2" reviewed by Chris Mosey

by Chris Mosey
November 7, 2018

With Jazz Bata 2, composer pianist and bandleader Chucho Valdés finally follows up on an experimental album he cut in Cuba in 1972. The subject matter of both records is the folklore and religious beliefs of the Yoruba slaves shipped to the Caribbean between 1770 and 1840. On Jazz Bata 2 Valdés' piano is backed by Dreiser Darruthy Bombale, playing various batá, double-headed drums shaped like hourglasses with one end larger than the other, used in Yoruba ...

Live Review

Alfa Jazz Fest 2017

by Thomas Conrad
July 11, 2017

Alfa Jazz Fest 2017 Lviv, Ukraine June 23-27, 2017 Jazz festivals are different in Europe. There are more of them, and they are crucial to the economic viability, social solidarity and creative evolution of the jazz art form. Many European towns that host their own annual jazz events seem like unlikely sites for festivals. They are small, and/or industrial, and/or off the beaten path. In the case of Alfa Jazz Fest, in Lviv, Ukraine, ...

Live Review

Irakere 40 at SFJAZZ

by Harry S. Pariser
November 11, 2015

Irakere 40 SFJAZZ San Francisco, California October 30, 2015 “They were smoking." That was KPFA's Art Sato, host of “In Your Ear"--a weekly Saturday afternoon Latin Jazz, jazz and flamenco music program on KPFA in Berkeley, California--evaluating legendary Cuban band Irakere's then-ongoing performance at SFJAZZ in San Francisco. Indeed they were! Presenting sizzling, searing music, leaping from a polyrhythmic frying pan, the band has melded a variety of musical forms ...

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Extended Analysis

Omara Portuondo & Chucho Valdes: Omara & Chucho

by Chris May
May 17, 2011

Omara Portuondo and Chucho ValdésOmara & ChuchoWorld Village2011 After 50 years of carrying a torch for Bueno Vista Social Club singer Omara Portuondo, pianist Chucho Valdés has finally succeeded in getting her into bed. The rear sleeve photo on Omara & Chucho shows the pair side by side between the sheets and smiling broadly, although, admittedly, both appear to be clothed, and are mugging it up for the camera. ...