Chucho Valdés Royal Quartet & Invités

Chucho Valdés Royal Quartet & Invités for his 85th birthday!

It is impossible to speak of Chucho Valdés without associating him with Afro-Cuban jazz – and vice versa.

The son of Bebo Valdés (pianist and bandleader, pioneer of the mambo), Chucho, also a pianist, founded the legendary Irakere in 1973 and for many years persevered in playing jazz on an island, Cuba, where the slightest breath of air from North America was generally regarded as carrying the bacillus of imperialism.

For this tenacity, for the titanic work he has accomplished and for his influence, which extends well beyond the sphere of Cuban jazzmen alone, Chucho has already secured his place in history.

It is impossible to speak of Chucho Valdés without associating him with Afro-Cuban jazz – and vice versa.

The son of Bebo Valdés (pianist and bandleader, pioneer of the mambo), Chucho, also a pianist, founded the legendary Irakere in 1973 and for many years persevered in playing jazz on an island, Cuba, where the slightest breath of air from North America was generally regarded as carrying the bacillus of imperialism.

For this tenacity, for the titanic work he has accomplished and for his influence, which extends well beyond the sphere of Cuban jazzmen alone, Chucho has already secured his place in history.

It is impossible to speak of Chucho Valdés without associating him with Afro-Cuban jazz – and vice versa.

The son of Bebo Valdés (pianist and bandleader, pioneer of the mambo), Chucho, also a pianist, founded the legendary Irakere in 1973 and for many years persevered in playing jazz on an island, Cuba, where the slightest breath of air from North America was generally regarded as carrying the bacillus of imperialism.

For this tenacity, for the titanic work he has accomplished and for his influence, which extends well beyond the sphere of Cuban jazzmen alone, Chucho has already secured his place in history.

• Louis-Julien Nicolaou A pianist of exceptional technique, endowed with unmatched velocity and virtuosity, he recorded seven albums for the Blue Note Records label between 1991 and 2003.