Chucho Valdés

Artist ∙ Jazz

Cuban pianist, bandleader, composer, and arranger Chucho Valdés is a highly accomplished and deeply influential figure in the world of Latin and Afro-Cuban jazz. A founding member of the seminal Cuban ensemble Irakere, Valdés first emerged to acclaim in the 1970s and is recognized worldwide for his distinctive fusion of Afro-Cuban, post-bop jazz, and classical and rock traditions. Over his 60-year career, he has performed alongside such luminaries as Dizzy Gillespie, Tito Puente, Arturo Sandoval, Roy Hargrove, and his father, esteemed pianist Bebo Valdés. He is the winner of six Grammy Awards and four Latin Grammy Awards, including for 2000's Live at the Village Vanguard, 2010's Chucho's Steps, and 2018's Jazz Batá 2. He is a 2018 recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Latin Academy of Recording Arts & Science, the same year he was inducted into the Latin Songwriters Hall of Fame.

October 18, 2009 at PDT
El Último Trago (Con Chucho Valdes)
The music of Spain, Cuba, Mexico, and Africa come together on Concha Buika’s El Último Trago. Buika, who was born on the Spanish island of Mallorca to parents from Equatorial Guinea, has been getting attention in the last few years for her modern take on flamenco. Her main accompanist on Trago is the pianist Chucho Valdés, a venerable Afro-Cuban jazz musician, and the two, along with other musicians, team up to perform songs associated with the legendary Mexican ranchera singer Chavela Vargas. Flamenco and ranchera are quite different, but both styles require passionate intensity, and Buika is more than up to the task of interpreting these classics. On “Soledad,” Buika is backed by an Afro-Cuban groove, with Valdés bringing an almost classical feel to some of his runs, while the gloomy “Sombras” gets a jazzy bolero reading. Who knew you could bring jazz and classical elements to this great Mexican style without watering down its potency? One reason the album works so well is the contrast between Valdés’s cool piano, and Buika’s finely tuned emotionality. El Último Trago is a must-have for fans of Latin music.
12 Tracks
September 9, 2021 at PDT
Mirror Mirror
7 Tracks
March 20, 2024 at PDT
Colección De Recuerdos - Single
1 Trackfalse
May 31, 2014 at PDT
Juntos para Siempre
12 Tracks
July 7, 2013 at PDT
Border-Free
Cuban musician and bandleader Chucho Valdes is known for many things. He’s an extraordinary, fire-breathing pianist, he’s won several GRAMMY® Awards, and he founded the groundbreaking group Irakere in the early '70s. (Valdes is the son of another great pianist, the late Bebo Valdes.) Border-Free, as its title implies, draws on a number of cultural influences to create a distinct brand of Latin jazz. The album opens with “Congadanza,” a supercharged track that includes a thicket of interlocking percussion, the driving bass of Angel Gaston Joya Perellada, and the first of several dazzling piano solos. The expansive “Afro-Comanche,” which honors Comanches who were deported to Cuba, is colored by strains of Native American melody. A tribute to Valdes’ father, “Bebo,” faintly echoes Horace Silver’s “Song for My Father,” while the touching “Pilar” honors Valdes’ mother. “Tabu” moves at an elegant pace as trumpeter Reinaldo Melian Alvarez and guest Branford Marsalis make impressive statements. Marsalis picks up his soprano sax for the closer, “Abdel,” a high-energy piece infused with North African flavor.
8 Tracks
July 21, 2022 at PDT
I Missed You Too! (with Reunion Sextet)
7 Tracks
November 15, 2018 at PST
Jazz Batá 2
Revisiting the lean but powerful sound of his 1972 classic, Jazz Batá, pianist Chucho Valdés marshals all the technical strength and spirited invention he’s cultivated since. But Jazz Batá 2 is a look back in another sense: It arrives in the centennial year of his late father, Bebo Valdés, an Afro-Cuban piano master and the ultimate musical role model. “100 Años de Bebo,” one of two tracks to feature the marvelous Regina Carter on violin, is the explicit homage, though Bebo’s spirit hovers over the whole program. Yaroldy Abreu Robles (batá drums/vocals) and Dreiser Durruthy Bombalé (percussion) set organic beats in motion like a rushing river; bassist Yelsy Heredia holds it down while generating counterpoint and texture. Valdés’ piano flights are stunning, steeped in Afro-Cuban tradition but hyper-modern, almost avant-garde in places. His offhanded, brilliantly placed quote of “Take the ‘A’ Train” in the midst of “Chucho’s Mood” (at 1:33) is the stuff of deep improvisational wisdom.
8 Tracks
September 8, 2010 at PDT
Piano Bar
23 Tracks
December 31, 1997 at PST
Bele Bele en la Habana
8 Tracks
October 19, 2009 at PDT
El Último Trago (Con la Colaboración de Chucho Valdes)
12 Tracks
October 18, 2015 at PDT
Tribute to Irakere: Live in Marciac
6 Tracks
August 30, 2010 at PDT
Chucho's Steps
One of the leading lights of Afro-Cuban jazz, pianist and composer Chucho Valdés is probably best known as the co-founder of the formidable Cuban band Irakere. (His father is the wonderful nonagenarian pianist, Bebo Valdés; the two teamed up for Juntos Para Siempre in 2008.) On Chucho’s Steps, Valdés leads a medium-sized band with a name that tips its hat to Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers. “Zawinul’s Mambo” is a tribute to pianist and composer Josef Zawinul that deftly alludes to the Austrian jazzman’s catchy melodic sense. The cut features a charged tenor sax solo by Carlos Miyares Hernández and Valdés’ piano statement is dazzling in its scope. The title track, in homage to one of Valdés’ influences, John Coltrane, is full of rich harmonies, exciting percussion, and also features finely focused playing by Miyares Hernández, trumpeter Reynaldo Melián Álvarez, and the bandleader. Another standout is “Yansa,” whose title refers to a Yoruba deity. Here the band is joined by Batá drummer and vocalist Dreiser Durruthy Bombalé and a traditional vocal choir.
8 Tracks
December 31, 1999 at PST
Live at the Village Vanguard
9 Tracks
September 14, 2017 at PDT
Familia: Tribute to Bebo & Chico
Pianists Arturo O’Farrill and Chucho Valdés, sons of iconic Cuban musicians Chico O’Farrill and Bebo Valdés, gather under one roof and bring their formidable talents to bear on Familia: Tribute to Bebo & Chico. Half the program features O’Farrill’s august working ensemble, The Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra; the rest belongs to the more streamlined Third Generations Ensemble, cooking on modernist, complex material such as “Gonki Gonki.” Not just sons but grandsons also appear: Trumpeter Adam O’Farrill and drummers Zack O’Farrill and Jessie Valdés make sparks fly.
13 Tracks
December 31, 2002 at PST
New Conceptions
7 Tracks
April 30, 2007 at PDT
Más Allá De Todo
10 Tracks
December 31, 1998 at PST
Briyumba Palo Congo (Religion of the Congo)
7 Tracks
August 29, 2024 at PDT
Cuba and Beyond
8 Tracks
August 31, 1991 at PDT
Solo Piano
10 Tracks
December 31, 1996 at PST
Desafíos
13 Tracks
May 31, 1996 at PDT
Inesquecíveis Boleros, 2ª Edição
12 Tracks
December 31, 1991 at PST
Silvio Rodríguez en Chile, Vol. 1
10 Tracks
September 8, 1978 at PDT
Cuban Jazz Revolution
18 Tracks
December 31, 2000 at PST
Solo - Live in New York
11 Tracks
February 2, 2017 at PST
ONCE: Concierto para Dos
11 Tracks

Chucho Valdés

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