Jazz Articles about Chucho Valdes

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Chucho Valdes & the Afro-Cuban Messengers: Chucho's Steps

by Jerry D'Souza
September 26, 2010

The odyssey of pianist Chucho Valdés has been well documented from his early days in Cuba playing in his father Bebo's Sabor de Cuba Orchestra to the founding of Irakere and on to new pastures as he infused fresh blood into Latin music and jazz. Valdez has never been fettered; his ideas are constantly evolving, finding avenues that give his music broad scope. He filters the narrowest of nooks and fills them with his majestic vision. He is truly a ...

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Chucho Valdes: The Music Never Ends

by Joan A. Cararach
September 20, 2010

Chucho Valdés arrived at his All About Jazz interview confident: of his music and of Spain's victory in the South African FIFA World Cup. It was July 11th 2010, and for the first time in its history, Spain's national team had reached a World Cup final, in South Africa. A Cuban interested in football? “A lot of people watch football in Cuba now, especially the Spanish league. I began to get excited about football in the last three years, in ...

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Chucho Valdés, música sin fin

by Joan A. Cararach
September 20, 2010

Chucho Valdés acude al encuentro con AllAboutJazz confiado. En su música y en la victoria de España en el Mundial de fútbol de Sudáfrica. Es el 11 de julio del 2010, y por primera vez en su historia la selección española ha llegado a una final del Mundial, en Sudáfrica. ¿Un cubano interesado en el fútbol? “En Cuba ahora se sigue mucho el fútbol, sobre todo la Liga española. Yo empecé a entusiasmarme por el fútbol en los últimos tres ...

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Chucho Valdes & The Afro-Cuban Messengers: Chucho's Steps

by Chris May
September 20, 2010

The semiology contained on pianist Chucho Valdés' magnificent Chucho's Steps points to the character of the music before the disc has even been taken out of its sleeve. First there's the name of the group and its reference to drummer Art Blakey's ferociously swinging Jazz Messengers. Then there's the title of the opener, “Las dos caras" ("Both Sides"), which hints at the two jazz traditions, American and Afro-Cuban, defining its particular style--an idea reinforced by the image of a crossroads, ...

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Chucho Valdes & The Afro-Cuban Messengers: Chucho's Steps

by Chris May
September 20, 2010

La semiología contenida en el magnífico Chucho's Steps de Chucho Valdés define el carácter de la música antes de haber reproducido el disco. En primer lugar, la referencia al batería Art Blakey y al swing apasionado y feroz de los Jazz Messengers. Luego, el título de la pieza inicial, Las dos caras, que apunta a las dos tradiciones del jazz --americana y afrocubana-- que definen su particular estilo, ambas presentes en todo su esplendor. Por último, el título del sexto ...

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Chucho Valdes Quintet at 2009 Ottawa International Jazz Festival

by Marcia Hillman
July 5, 2009

Chucho Valdés Quintet 2009 Ottawa International Jazz Festival Ottawa, Canada July 3, 2009

The rain held off and skies cleared just in time for the Chucho Valdés Quintet to delight the audience at the Ottawa Jazz Festival, Confederation Park. The group-consisting of Chucho Valdés on piano, Lazaro Alarcon on bass, drummer Juan Carlos Rojas, percussionist Yurali Abreu and vocalist Mayra Caridad Valdés (who appeared later in the set)--started the set with an Ellington ...

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Chucho Valdes And The Birth Of Irakere

by Chris May
May 1, 2007

Rumor Records' Jazz Cuba series cherry picks from 300 recordings made primarily for local consumption from the mid 1950s through the late 1980s at the Panart and Areito studios in Havana, Cuba. Some may briefly have surfaced in the US via the Cuban exile community, but none have previously been released in the UK or mainland Europe.

The first five releases include four albums led by or featuring pianist Chucho Valdes which trace the genesis of the seminal ...