Arturo Valdez’s ascent is not only measured in studio credits and club residencies; it is equally defined by education, scene-building, and culturally rooted collaborations that carry Afro-Peruvian rhythm into modern jazz. His upcoming U.S. work runs parallel to a sustained track record of masterclasses, civic concerts, and institution-level appointments in Peru and the United States—evidence of an artist who shapes the music from the bandstand and the classroom alike.
Arturo Valdez’s ascent is not only measured in studio credits and club residencies; it is equally defined by education, scene-building, and culturally rooted collaborations that carry Afro-Peruvian rhythm into modern jazz. His upcoming U.S. work runs parallel to a sustained track record of masterclasses, civic concerts, and institution-level appointments in Peru and the United States—evidence of an artist who shapes the music from the bandstand and the classroom alike.
Education is central to Valdez’s next phase. From 2025 to 2028 he will serve as Lead Double Bass Instructor at Peru’s National University of Music, the country’s most prestigious conservatory, founded in 1908. He will author curriculum, lead masterclasses and workshops, and direct performance programming—an institutional vote of confidence in his command of bass technique and pedagogy. In the U.S., his educational footprint intersects directly with marquee performance platforms. With the Gabriel Alegría Afro-Peruvian Sextet, he is not only Lead Bassist but also Lead Bass Pedagogue, designing and delivering masterclasses attached to an Autumn 2026 tour to Blues Alley (Washington, DC), Cameron Art Museum (Wilmington, NC), and Artspace (Raleigh, NC), with return engagements at Shenandoah University in 2027. He will further expand that reach by leading a Peruvian music masterclass for the Madison Jazz Society in July 2026 as part of his work with Peruvian-born, U.S.-raised saxophonist Sebastian Roman, and by joining pianist-composer Álvaro Torres for a 2027 masterclass at the Brooklyn Conservatory.
Those commitments follow years of public-facing education and cultural programming across Peru. Valdez marked International Jazz Day with a performance and bass masterclass at Jazz Zone Peru in Miraflores, part of the UNESCO—and Herbie Hancock–led celebration that highlights jazz’s diplomatic power. On February 20, 2023, he was a starring lead bassist in the civic concert "Jazz at the Viewpoint" at the Mirador del Malecón Pardo in La Punta, organized by the Culture Division and covered by the Peruvian National Government’s official news outlet. The Lima Jazz Association has featured him repeatedly since 2014, including The Patagonia Sessions on December 19, 2014 alongside renowned Peruvian artists Carlos Espinoza and Víctor Manuel Sánchez Cueto, and a July 26, 2023 date with the Karl Schroth Quartet at Nomad in Lima, reported by Diario Noticiero and Serperuano. He also appeared as a lead bassist on August 14, 2023 at the 10th International Vibraphone and Marimba Festival at the UEDEP Culture Center with noted New York vibraphonist-composer Ted Piltzecker, an event covered by El Peruano and Joinnus and known for convening international percussion talent for concerts and masterclasses.
Valdez’s performance calendar in the U.S. is equally rooted in community and cutting-edge collaboration. His 2025–2028 role with drummer Tcheser Holmes, a prominent voice in free jazz and Pan-African improvisation, includes an ongoing December series at San Pedro Inn in Brooklyn and headlining solo performances at the Wellness, Beats & Peace Festival at IBeam, where Valdez will be featured on July 27, 2025. His partnership with tenor saxophonist Sebastian Roman adds album production for Emy Castro at Brooklyn’s Studio 17 Recording in February 2026, Roman’s NSFCL album there in January 2027, and lead bass duties for concerts at Café Coda and North Street Cabaret in Madison, Wisconsin—paired with the Madison Jazz Society workshop. These gigs build on Valdez’s featured role in Roman’s October 24, 2024 Kind of Blue/Milestones Tribute at Café Coda. With drummer-composer Juan Daniel Pastor, a leading proponent of Afro-Peruvian polyrhythms in contemporary jazz, Valdez is set as Lead Bassist for a March 2026 showcase at Constellation Chicago and a combined masterclass and live quartet performance at Northern Illinois University that month, extending his presence across the Midwest’s academic and performance circuits.
His past appearances map a broad cultural alliance. In 2021, Valdez’s lead bass drove Grupo Rebolú on two high-profile stages— Carnegie Hall’s Citiwide Series and the Creative Alliance in Baltimore—affirming his command of Afro-Latin repertoire at the highest level. He has been a visible collaborator in Lima’s evolving jazz ecosystem, touring Peru with The Kappa Trio and appearing throughout the United States with drummer-bandleader Ken Ychicawa’s jazz trio, while recording Ychicawa’s 2024 single "The Process" and 2025 album "Temporal", both covered by national outlets. In 2024, he joined drummer Brian Richburg’s quartet at Selina in Lima, reflecting his continuing role in the cross-border dialogue between Peru and the U.S. That same year, Valdez performed on the Berklee Global Jazz Institute’s 15th Anniversary Tour at Panama City’s Gladys Vidal Theater—an initiative founded by Grammy winner Danilo Pérez and linked to exchanges with the Panama Jazz Festival and European conservatories—further cementing his participation in projects that tie artistry to social impact.
Valdez’s club bona fides underscore why he is so in demand across scenes. He has led the low end José Benjamín Escobar’s quintet at Close Up in New York; and is booked through 2028 with Phil Grenadier’s Post Underground Boston series in Brookline. Each collaboration leans on Valdez’s rare combination of upright and electric facility and his knack for guiding ensembles in the moment.
The through line in his discography and live work remains the marriage of craft and cultural depth. On the recordings front, Valdez’s lead bass on Hita lot’s 2023 single Cada Paso drew coverage from several major media outlets in Peru; his work on Guillermo Pardavé’s Cielo de Lima (2023) earned plaudits from Rockachorao; Andrea Martínez’s "Drama" (2020) also received considerable press, all of which noted Valdez' work on the bass. Those credits complement his continued studio leadership in the United States—most notably with Sebastian Roman at Studio 17 in Brooklyn beginning in 2026—positioning him as a producer-musician who can convene teams, shape sound, and deliver on tight artistic timelines.
As Valdez steps into 2025–2028 with university leadership in Peru, education-forward tours in the U.S., and a slate of recording and performance partnerships that span Brooklyn, Boston, Chicago, and Spain, the significance is clear. He is not only a celebrated bassist; he is a cultural connector whose work with the Afro-Peruvian Sextet, Pastor, Roman, and a broad circle of U.S. bandleaders amplifies a transnational jazz language. The venues—Mezzrow, ShapeShifter Lab, Blues Alley, Café Erzulie, the Seattle Jazz Fellowship, Chris’ Jazz Café, Origins Café, and more—the studios—Electric Lady, Power Station, Studio 17—and the institutions—from Shenandoah University to the National University of Music in Lima—attest to a career that advances simultaneously on the bandstand, in the classroom, and on record, with a widening circle of influence across the Americas.
Education is central to Valdez’s next phase. From 2025 to 2028 he will serve as Lead Double Bass Instructor at Peru’s National University of Music, the country’s most prestigious conservatory, founded in 1908. He will author curriculum, lead masterclasses and workshops, and direct performance programming—an institutional vote of confidence in his command of bass technique and pedagogy. In the U.S., his educational footprint intersects directly with marquee performance platforms. With the Gabriel Alegría Afro-Peruvian Sextet, he is not only Lead Bassist but also Lead Bass Pedagogue, designing and delivering masterclasses attached to an Autumn 2026 tour to Blues Alley (Washington, DC), Cameron Art Museum (Wilmington, NC), and Artspace (Raleigh, NC), with return engagements at Shenandoah University in 2027. He will further expand that reach by leading a Peruvian music masterclass for the Madison Jazz Society in July 2026 as part of his work with Peruvian-born, U.S.-raised saxophonist Sebastian Roman, and by joining pianist-composer Álvaro Torres for a 2027 masterclass at the Brooklyn Conservatory.
Those commitments follow years of public-facing education and cultural programming across Peru. Valdez marked International Jazz Day with a performance and bass masterclass at Jazz Zone Peru in Miraflores, part of the UNESCO—and Herbie Hancock–led celebration that highlights jazz’s diplomatic power. On February 20, 2023, he was a starring lead bassist in the civic concert "Jazz at the Viewpoint" at the Mirador del Malecón Pardo in La Punta, organized by the Culture Division and covered by the Peruvian National Government’s official news outlet. The Lima Jazz Association has featured him repeatedly since 2014, including The Patagonia Sessions on December 19, 2014 alongside renowned Peruvian artists Carlos Espinoza and Víctor Manuel Sánchez Cueto, and a July 26, 2023 date with the Karl Schroth Quartet at Nomad in Lima, reported by Diario Noticiero and Serperuano. He also appeared as a lead bassist on August 14, 2023 at the 10th International Vibraphone and Marimba Festival at the UEDEP Culture Center with noted New York vibraphonist-composer Ted Piltzecker, an event covered by El Peruano and Joinnus and known for convening international percussion talent for concerts and masterclasses.
Valdez’s performance calendar in the U.S. is equally rooted in community and cutting-edge collaboration. His 2025–2028 role with drummer Tcheser Holmes, a prominent voice in free jazz and Pan-African improvisation, includes an ongoing December series at San Pedro Inn in Brooklyn and headlining solo performances at the Wellness, Beats & Peace Festival at IBeam, where Valdez will be featured on July 27, 2025. His partnership with tenor saxophonist Sebastian Roman adds album production for Emy Castro at Brooklyn’s Studio 17 Recording in February 2026, Roman’s NSFCL album there in January 2027, and lead bass duties for concerts at Café Coda and North Street Cabaret in Madison, Wisconsin—paired with the Madison Jazz Society workshop. These gigs build on Valdez’s featured role in Roman’s October 24, 2024 Kind of Blue/Milestones Tribute at Café Coda. With drummer-composer Juan Daniel Pastor, a leading proponent of Afro-Peruvian polyrhythms in contemporary jazz, Valdez is set as Lead Bassist for a March 2026 showcase at Constellation Chicago and a combined masterclass and live quartet performance at Northern Illinois University that month, extending his presence across the Midwest’s academic and performance circuits.
His past appearances map a broad cultural alliance. In 2021, Valdez’s lead bass drove Grupo Rebolú on two high-profile stages— Carnegie Hall’s Citiwide Series and the Creative Alliance in Baltimore—affirming his command of Afro-Latin repertoire at the highest level. He has been a visible collaborator in Lima’s evolving jazz ecosystem, touring Peru with The Kappa Trio and appearing throughout the United States with drummer-bandleader Ken Ychicawa’s jazz trio, while recording Ychicawa’s 2024 single "The Process" and 2025 album "Temporal", both covered by national outlets. In 2024, he joined drummer Brian Richburg’s quartet at Selina in Lima, reflecting his continuing role in the cross-border dialogue between Peru and the U.S. That same year, Valdez performed on the Berklee Global Jazz Institute’s 15th Anniversary Tour at Panama City’s Gladys Vidal Theater—an initiative founded by Grammy winner Danilo Pérez and linked to exchanges with the Panama Jazz Festival and European conservatories—further cementing his participation in projects that tie artistry to social impact.
Valdez’s club bona fides underscore why he is so in demand across scenes. He has led the low end José Benjamín Escobar’s quintet at Close Up in New York; and is booked through 2028 with Phil Grenadier’s Post Underground Boston series in Brookline. Each collaboration leans on Valdez’s rare combination of upright and electric facility and his knack for guiding ensembles in the moment.
The through line in his discography and live work remains the marriage of craft and cultural depth. On the recordings front, Valdez’s lead bass on Hita lot’s 2023 single Cada Paso drew coverage from several major media outlets in Peru; his work on Guillermo Pardavé’s Cielo de Lima (2023) earned plaudits from Rockachorao; Andrea Martínez’s "Drama" (2020) also received considerable press, all of which noted Valdez' work on the bass. Those credits complement his continued studio leadership in the United States—most notably with Sebastian Roman at Studio 17 in Brooklyn beginning in 2026—positioning him as a producer-musician who can convene teams, shape sound, and deliver on tight artistic timelines.
As Valdez steps into 2025–2028 with university leadership in Peru, education-forward tours in the U.S., and a slate of recording and performance partnerships that span Brooklyn, Boston, Chicago, and Spain, the significance is clear. He is not only a celebrated bassist; he is a cultural connector whose work with the Afro-Peruvian Sextet, Pastor, Roman, and a broad circle of U.S. bandleaders amplifies a transnational jazz language. The venues—Mezzrow, ShapeShifter Lab, Blues Alley, Café Erzulie, the Seattle Jazz Fellowship, Chris’ Jazz Café, Origins Café, and more—the studios—Electric Lady, Power Station, Studio 17—and the institutions—from Shenandoah University to the National University of Music in Lima—attest to a career that advances simultaneously on the bandstand, in the classroom, and on record, with a widening circle of influence across the Americas.
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