In “Comillas, Chucho Valdés, uno de los mejores pianistas del mundo, miércoles 10 de agosto,” Cantabria Directa announced that Cuban pianist and composer Chucho Valdés will be performing at the 19^th edition of the Caprichos Musicales de Comillas festival (at Palacio de Sobrellano in Comillas, Cantabria, Spain) on August 10, 2022.

The Cuban pianist, composer and arranger has left his mark in each group with which he has chosen to express himself and in each musical style into which he has ventured. Chucho has returned to the quartet format several times through his career because, for him, “it’s like a laboratory.” Through his extensive career, he has been the pianist of large orchestras and founder and director of Irakere, the ‘small big band,’ achieving the fusion of Afro-Cuban ritual music with elements of Afro-Cuban popular music and classical music, jazz, and rock—a transcendental innovation in Latin jazz.

Chucho Valdés is considered one of the best pianists in the world. He is the winner of 7 Grammys and 4 Latin Grammys, in addition to the Award for Musical Excellence from the Latin Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. His name is in the Latin Songwriters Hall of Fame.

This concert, within the programming of the Caprichos Musicales de Comillasfestival, will be held at the Palacio de Sobrellano (Barrio Sobrellano s/n), at 10:00 p.m., and tickets can be purchased through the website: https://aramalikian.com/concierto/comillas-es-chucho-valdes-caprichos-musicales/ and at the Palace box office, an hour before the beginning of the performance.

He will be accompanied on stage by Pedro Pablo Rodríguez (percussion), Reinier Elizarde Ruano (double bass), and Lukmil Pérez Herrera (drums). “The quartet fascinates me, it opens my imagination,” affirms Chucho. “The quartet forces you to change conceptually, it makes you think differently. It is a training that gives me all the melodic and harmonic possibilities, but it also gives me the opportunity to delve into Cuban polyrhythms and African polyrhythms.” In his quartets, made up of a bass, drums, and percussion, “sometimes the piano forms part of the percussion base.”

Dionisio Jesús ‘Chucho’ Valdés Rodríguez was born into a family of musicians in Quivicán, in the province of Havana (Cuba), on October 9, 1941. His first teacher, and his greatest influence, was his father, pianist, composer, and orchestra director Ramón ‘Bebo’ Valdés.

Valdés has accompanied singers, played in trios and written works for orchestras and large groups. The most recent, ‘La Creación’ [Creation], is a suite of three movements, for small ensemble, vocals, and big band, which tells the story of creation according to the Rule of Ocha, the Afro-Cuban religion, known as Santeria. ‘La Creación’ premiered in November 2021, to celebrate his 80th birthday.

Without a doubt, musically and personally, for Chucho Valdés, one of the most important events of 2022 has been the musical reunion with his old friend and companion in musical adventures, the clarinetist, saxophonist, and composer Paquito D`Rivera. Over the past 42 years, their paths have rarely crossed, but they have played together again, recorded a new album, Yo también te extrañé [I Missed You Too], and embarked on a world tour to celebrate their reunion.

Translated by Ivette Romero. For the original, and more information, see https://www.cantabriadirecta.es/77741-2-noticias-cantabria-santander-comillas-chucho-valdes/ and https://www.comillas.es/caprichos-musicales/