By Gene Santoro. Special To The News.
NY Daily News
Even amid the resurgence of Latin jazz, Chucho Valdes stands out. And not
just because he's 6-feet-6.
His keyboard technique seamlessly mixes classical, jazz and Cuban music with
supercharged rhythms. At once complex and visceral, Valdes' music engulfs
listeners with wit, charm and searing virtuosity.
Small wonder that Time magazine has called Valdes, 58, "the greatest
jazz pianist in Cuba, perhaps one of the greatest pianists in the world."
Tomorrow night, as Valdes opens a week-long run at the Village Vanguard, the
fireball pianist will be rewarded with a Grammy for an album he recorded there.
You may recall that this year's Grammy Awards took place in February. But
Valdes couldn't make it — he was doing a concert with Herbie Hancock. And
so, tomorrow, he will finally receive his due for "Live at the Village
Vanguard," presented by the producer Phil Ramone, chairman emeritus of the
National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences.
"Just imagine," he says. "The dream of my life, from when I
was little, was just to touch the keys of the piano at the Vanguard. All my
heroes, all the greats like [pianist] Bill Evans played and recorded there."
Learned From a Master
Valdes grew up in Havana, where his father, Bebo, also a piano master, was
musical director of the famed Tropicana Hotel. Stars like Dizzy Gillespie and
Nat King Cole regularly flew in from Miami to appear there. (Bebo did
arrangements for Cole's classic album "Cole en Espanol.") It was,
Valdes says, an ear-opening education when his dad took him to work.
He appeared onstage when he was 11, and was sufficiently impressive so as to
win a contract offer (his parents vetoed the idea). At 16, he formed a jazz
trio. At 23, he co-founded the legendary Orquestra de Musica Moderna, where he
met saxophonist Paquito D'Rivera and trumpeter Arturo Sandoval, with whom in
1973 he founded the influential all-star outfit Irakere.
"Besides integrating jazz into our music," he explains, "Irakere
also incorporated dance elements from Santeria."
The 1980s brought a tightened American embargo of Cuba, which shut the door
on Cuban musicians and helped push D'Rivera and Sandoval into emigrating. Valdes
remained in Cuba, where he was a music professor, revered artist and head of the
Havana Jazz Festival.
As the U.S. door slowly reopened in the '90s, he waited. Trumpet star Roy
Hargrove, after appearing at the Havana fest, enlisted Valdes for Crisol, his
Latin jazz band; the group's 1997 Grammy-winning album relaunched Valdes in
America.
Now he has his own Grammy.
"It's very important to me that this Grammy is for my own work,"
he declares. "Not for Irakere, not for me as a sideman, but for me. My
heart is pounding like a bass drum!"
Original Publication Date: 4/10/01 | 