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Raul Pineda
RAUL PINEDA is one of the most innovative Latin drummers in the world!
About Me
Grammy award-winner and 4-time Grammy-nominated, RAUL PINEDA, has been named
one of today’s best and most innovative Latin drummers in the world. Raul’s unique style
of playing — a result of a coveted blend of Afro Cuban and contemporary influences
applied to the modern drum set — have catapulted him into being one of Cuba’s most
influential drummers of his generation.
Born and raised in Havana, Cuba, Raul’s musical foundation was cultivated by his
challenging socio-economic surroundings. As a young boy, Raul created makeshift drum
kits by staking discarded steel rods into the ground and attaching old tin cans that had
been used to store cooking oil. His first drumsticks were made from branches of a nearby
orange tree.
The lack of resources, combined with the rich, musical environment of Raul’s upbringing
was truly a benefit. The teachings of the rumberos that gathered to play in the streets,
along with a constant echoing of Cuban music throughout the corridors of the colonial
and dilapidated building where he grew up in Old Havana, engrained a deep sense of
rhythmic creativity in him — a quality that is evident in his style of playing.
At the request of his late grandfather, musician, Nefer Miguel Milanés, Raul went on to
study classical percussion for several years. The combination of applied, modern
techniques and the complex nature of Afro Cuban music became instrumental in shaping
Raul’s unique sound.
By 19 years old, Raul’s reputation for speed, accuracy, imagination, and technique landed
him an offer to join one of Cuba’s most popular bands at the time, Sintesis, a progressive,
world-music group that fused Afro Cuban rhythms with rock, jazz and Yoruban chants.
For the next 6 years, he recorded both the drum kit and batá drums in various albums
which provided him a platform to develop innumerable musical concepts. With Sintesis,
Raul performed at Festival Internacionál Jazz Plaza de La Habana, Nice Jazz Festival and
Jazz a Vienne in France, Montreux Jazz Festival, North Sea Jazz Festival, Pori Jazz in
Finland, Festival de Las Artes in Costa Rica, Festival Internacionál de Bahia in Brazil and
many others. At age 25, Raul was featured in a world-renowned educational video
entitled, The Drumset Artists of Cuba which contributed to Raul’s rising popularity
amongst drummers all over the world.
After seeing Raul perform at the Pori Jazz Festival in Finland, Chucho Valdés, one of the
world’s most legendary jazz pianists from Cuba, asked Raul to record on his Grammy-
nominated album, Belé Belé in Havana in Toronto, Canada – Valdés’s first post-Irakere
project. Due the success of the album, Valdés, with the encouragement from Blue Note
Records, recruited Raul to form part of the Chucho Valdes Quartet from 1997-2000 that
included a Latin Jazz All-Star Tour in Europe alongside Michel Camilo, Giovanni Hidalgo,
Claudio Roditti, Juan Pablo Torres, Roberto Vizcaino, Irvin Acao, and Mayra Caridad Valdés.
The quartet’s 2nd album, Briyumba Palo Congo, was also nominated for a Grammy in
1999. The following year, Chucho Valdés Quartet — Live at the Village Vanguard, in New
York City won the Grammy for Best Latin Jazz Performance. At the time of its release, Raul
was residing and teaching at various music conservatories in Denmark before relocating to
the U.S. in 2001.
In 2008, Raul co-produced, co-arranged and played on, Encuentro, a brilliant debut album
with the Afro Cuban Latin Jazz Project featuring saxophonist, Bob Mintzer (Yellowjackets).
Since his move to Los Angeles, CA, Raul continues to tour, record and perform with an
array of world, jazz, latin, and pop artists and musicians, bridging his humble beginnings
as a boy with a tin can drum set to becoming one of Cuba’s most prolific and versatile
drummers of all time.
Raul currently endorses DW drums, Sabian cymbals, Latin Percussion, Innovative Percussion
drumsticks, Remo heads, Beato bags and Audix microphones.
My Jazz Story
I love jazz because... I was first exposed to jazz... I met [musician name]... The best show I ever attended was... The first jazz record I bought was... My advice to new listeners... Or whatever else you have in mind.