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Jesús Valdés Rodríguez, better known as Chucho Valdés, is a Cuban pianist, bandleader, composer and arranger whose career spans over 50 years. An original member of the Orquesta Cubana de Música Moderna, in 1973 he founded the group Irakere, one of Cuba's best-known Latin jazz bands.
Omara Portuondo Peláez is a Cuban singer and dancer. A founding member of the popular vocal group Cuarteto d'Aida, Portuondo has collaborated with many important Cuban musicians during her long career, including Julio Gutiérrez, Juanito Márquez and Chucho Valdés. Although primarily known for her rendition of boleros, she has recorded in a wide range of styles from jazz to son cubano. Since 1996, she has been part of the Buena Vista Social Club project, touring extensively and recording several albums with the ensemble. She won a Latin Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Tropical Album in 2009 and a Latin Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2019, and she received three Grammy Award nominations.
A descarga is an improvised jam session consisting of variations on Cuban music themes, primarily son montuno, but also guajira, bolero, guaracha and rumba. The genre is strongly influenced by jazz and it was developed in Havana during the 1950s. Important figures in the emergence of the genre were Cachao, Julio Gutiérrez, Bebo Valdés, Peruchín and Niño Rivera in Cuba, and Tito Puente, Machito and Mario Bauzá in New York. Originally, descargas were promoted by record companies such as Panart, Maype and Gema under the label Cuban jam sessions. From the 1960s, the descarga format was usually adapted by large salsa ensembles, most notably the Fania All-Stars.
EGREM is the national record label of Cuba. It is headquartered in Centro Habana, where its main record studios operate. It was founded in 1964 after the nationalization of the Cuban music industry, absorbing the assets of Panart. EGREM had a monopoly on music production activities from 1964 until the late 1980s when independent labels reemerged. EGREM's archive comprises "the most extensive catalog of Cuban music in the world".
Francisco de Jesús Rivera Figueras, known as Paquito D'Rivera, is a Cuban-American alto saxophonist, clarinetist and composer. He was a member of the Cuban songo band Irakere and, since the 1980s, he has established himself as a bandleader in the United States. His smooth saxophone tone and his frequent combination of Latin jazz and classical music have become his trademarks.
Víctor Valdés Arribas is a Spanish football coach and former professional player, who played as a goalkeeper. Valdés was considered fiercely competitive and demanding, demonstrating great mental strength and concentration to be alert during long spells of ball domination, and was superb at one-on-ones.
Dionisio Ramón Emilio Valdés Amaro, better known as Bebo Valdés, was a Cuban pianist, bandleader, composer and arranger. He was a central figure in the golden age of Cuban music, especially due to his big band arrangements and compositions of mambo, chachachá and batanga, a genre he created in 1952.
Luciano Pozo González, known professionally as Chano Pozo, was a Cuban jazz percussionist, singer, dancer, and composer. Despite only living to age 33, he played a major role in the founding of Latin jazz. He co-wrote some of Dizzy Gillespie's Latin-flavored compositions, such as "Manteca" and "Tin Tin Deo", and was the first Latin percussionist in Gillespie's band.
Amadito Valdés is a Cuban timbalero, best known for his work with Cuarteto Las d'Aida and Buena Vista Social Club.
Horacio "El Negro" Hernandez is a Cuban drummer and percussionist. He has played alongside Latin jazz pianists such as Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Michel Camilo, Chucho Valdés, Eddie Palmieri and Hilario Durán.
Carlos Valdés Galán, better known as Patato, was a Cuban conga player. In 1954, he emigrated from La Habana to New York City where he continued his prolific career as a sideman for several jazz and Latin music ensembles, and occasionally as a bandleader. He contributed to the development of the tunable conga drum which revolutionized the use of the instrument in the US. His experimental descarga albums recorded for Latin Percussion are considered the counterpart to the commercial salsa boom of the 1970s. Tito Puente once called him "the greatest conguero alive today".
Percussion Bitter Sweet is an album by jazz drummer Max Roach recorded in 1961, released on Impulse! Records. It was trumpeter Booker Little's penultimate recording before he died from uremia in early October 1961.
Miguelito Valdés, also known as Mr. Babalú, was a renowned Cuban singer. His performances were characterized by a strong voice and a particular sense of cubanismo.
The Black Angel is a studio album by American jazz trumpeter Freddie Hubbard, recorded in 1969 and released in 1970. It was his fourth release on the Atlantic label and features performances by Hubbard, James Spaulding, Kenny Barron, Reggie Workman, Louis Hayes and Carlos "Patato" Valdes.
Guillermo Barreto was a Cuban drummer and timbalero. He was a major figure in the Cuban music scene for more than fifty years and one of the first drummers in Cuba to play Afro-Cuban jazz.
Mississippi Gambler is an album by jazz flautist Herbie Mann, released in 1972 on the Atlantic Records label. The album features saxophonist David Newman.
Lágrimas Negras is a 2003 album by Cuban pianist, bandleader, composer and arranger Bebo Valdés and Spanish flamenco singer Diego el Cigala. Lágrimas Negras is a fusion of Cuban rhythms and flamenco vocals, produced by Spanish composer, producer and guitarist Javier Limón and book editor, screenwriter, film director and producer Fernando Trueba and released by Calle 54 Records and BMG Music Spain.
Mercedes Valdés Granit, better known as Merceditas Valdés, was a Cuban singer who specialized in Afro-Cuban traditional music. Under the aegis of ethnomusicologists Fernando Ortiz and Obdulio Morales, Valdés helped popularize Afro-Cuban music throughout Latin America. In 1949, she became one of the first female Santería singers to be recorded. Her debut album was released at the start of the 1960s, when the Cuban government nationalized the record industry. She then went on hiatus before making a comeback in the 1980s with a series of albums entitled Aché, in collaboration with artists such as Frank Emilio Flynn and rumba ensemble Yoruba Andabo. She also appeared in Jane Bunnett's Spirits of Havana and continued performing until her death in 1996.
El Arte del Sabor is a jazz album by the Bebo Valdés Trio released in 2001 by Blue Note Records. It was recorded and mixed in New York's Current Sounds studios during March 2000. The album features Bebo Valdés on piano, Cachao on double bass, and Carlos "Patato" Valdés on congas. In addition, alto saxophonist Paquito D'Rivera appears as a guest artist in three tracks. The album won the 2002 Latin Grammy Award for Best Traditional Tropical Album as well as the Grammy Award for Best Traditional Tropical Latin Album.
Rocco Valdes, better known by his stage name Rocco Did It Again!, is an American record producer, songwriter, music publisher, and music executive.
References
- ↑ Block, Debbie Galante (January 29, 2000). "Pairing Music To Wine Tastings, Snowboarding". Billboard . p. 8.