Chucho Valdés
PROJECTS:
CHUCHO VALDÉS ROYAL QUARTET
Winner of seven Grammy and six Latin Grammy Awards, the Cuban pianist, composer, and arranger Chucho Valdés is the most influential figure in modern Afro-Cuban jazz. In a rich career spanning sixty years, Chucho has pushed boundaries in pursuit of new expressions in Afro-Cuban music. His influence in the genre is immeasurable, his work establishing the standard by which younger generations set out to create their own.
Chucho’s musical education includes formal studies and countless nights on the best stages in Cuba as the pianist with his father, Bebo Valdés, and his orchestra Sabor de Cuba, and with the seminal Orquesta Cubana de Música Moderna. Chucho is perhaps best known as the founder, pianist, and main composer and arranger of Irakere, a landmark ensemble in Cuban music. Chucho led Irakere for more than 30 years, but since 2005 he has focused on his personal career, highlighting his work as a pianist and leading small ensembles, like the Afro-Cuban Messengers, Jazz Batá, and his acclaimed Royal Quartet.
Chucho has been named an NEA Jazz Master, is a recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Latin Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences, has been inducted into the Latin Songwriters Hall of Fame, and received a DC Jazz Festival Lifetime Achievement Award, his name joining an illustrious list that includes Kenny Barron, James Moody, Ellis Marsalis, George Wein, and Dave Brubeck.
A restless visionary forever evolving Afro-Cuban music, Chucho Valdés is as creative and playful as ever on his Grammy and Latin Grammy nominated release, Cuba & Beyond.
CHUCHO VALDÉS 85TH BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION
NEA Jazz Master and winner of seven Grammy and five Latin Grammy Awards, the Cuban pianist, composer and arranger Chucho Valdés is the most influential figure in modern Afro-Cuban jazz. In a rich career spanning sixty years, Chucho has pushed boundaries in pursuit of new expressions in Afro-Cuban music. Chucho celebrates his 85th birthday in 2026 with an exciting new program featuring special guests.
CHUCHO VALDÉS & ARTURO SANDOVAL LEGACY QUINTET
For the first time in over 40 years, two living legends of Afro-Cuban jazz—Arturo Sandoval and Chucho Valdés—reunite on stage for an electrifying quintet performance. This once-in-a-lifetime concert brings together the masterful trumpet virtuosity of Sandoval with the groundbreaking piano genius of Valdés in an explosive celebration of rhythm, improvisation, and musical legacy. Don’t miss the rare opportunity to witness these icons create magic in an intimate, high-octane setting—an unforgettable night of history in the making.
SYMPHONY
Seamlessly joining Afro-Cuban rhythms with New Orleans jazz and Western classical traditions, Chucho Valdés’ symphonic repertoire celebrates a genre he helped to build. Chucho’s musical education includes formal studies and countless nights on the best stages in Cuba as the pianist with his father, Bebo Valdés, and his orchestra Sabor de Cuba, and also the seminal Orquesta Cubana de Música Moderna. In the early 70s, Chucho distilled his experiences into the foundation of Irakere, an ensemble that marked a before and after in Afro-Cuban jazz. Chucho was the director, pianist, main composer and arranger of Irakere for more than 30 years. But since 2005, he has focused on his personal career, highlighting his work as a pianist and leading small ensembles. Now in his mid-70s, Chucho’s technique and creative output are as prodigious as ever. Chucho is available to perform with orchestras as a soloist or with his quartet.
PRESS QUOTES:
“As a pianist, composer and arranger, Chucho Valdés has become one of the most influential figures in modern Afro-Cuban jazz”
Billboard
“A pianist of imperial command, possessed of a dazzling, deceptively casual virtuosity”
The New York Times
“An encyclopedic vocabulary of Afro-Cuban rhythms and an expansive palette that includes all manner of modern jazz as well as traditional classical repertoire”
The Boston Globe
“El maestro Chucho Valdés is one of the great treasures of the music world… Valdés grounds his work in the aural history of mother Cuba, while seamlessly weaving in aspects of folk, jazz and classical to create a singular musical vision”
DownBeat
