Chucho Valdes Symphony

In his masterwork Canto a Dios, Cuban pianist, composer and arranger Jesus ‘Chucho’ Valdes connects, and expands on, several essential threads in his music.

He seamlessly joins Afro-Cuban musical tradition, European classical music and jazz; he pays tribute to New Orleans as the birthplace of jazz and the sister city of Havana; he features longtime collaborators from his epochal Afro-Cuban-jazz-rock fusion group Irakere but also Cuba’s Symphony Orchestra and Choir. A deeply religious man, Valdes celebrates here both his Catholic and Afro-Cuban (Santeria) beliefs.

Valdes wrote the moving title track as a prayer for the city of New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. He spoke at the time of feeling ‘compelled’ to write a piece as a tribute to those who lost their lives or managed to survive but lost it all in the city that means so much to him. ‘I feel tied to that region because historically, Cuba has had shared roots with New Orleans through the influence of French music, ragtime, habanera, el blues, el jazz…’, he said at the presentation of the recording in Madrid in 2008.

The stunning La Tormenta y la Calma (The Storm and the Calm) is also a new piece and was inspired by the idea of the Mississippi river in the aftermath of the hurricane, ‘a river that saw in its banks, slaves singing their joys and sorrows.’ It includes some of the most dazzling piano work by Chucho on record.

Meanwhile, Tributo a Africa (Shaka Zulu), written in 1981, is a 16 minute plus Afro-Cuban symphony, with much drumming but also a strong Stan Getz influence. The other two compositions are Claudia, a classic ballad first recorded by Irakere in 1979 that has since become a Latin jazz standard, and Nanu, dedicated to the mother deity of Babalu Aye – St. Lazarus in the Santeria pantheon.

Both moving and dazzling, Canto a Dios is the work of a master at the height of his powers.

Irakere

‘Irakere’ means ‘forest’ in the Yoruba language of West Africa. Four decades ago, Chucho Valdes founded Irakere, a revolutionary band that introduced African drum traditions to Cuban dance music. A small, Cuban-style big band with an explosive mix of jazz, rock, classical, Afro-Cuban and traditional Cuban music, Irakere was discovered by Dizzy Gillespie in a visit to Havana on a 1976 jazz cruise. In 1978 CBS producer Bruce Lundvall signed the band for the label. After winning a Grammy Award for Best Latin Recording in 1979, the group went on to create an extraordinary body of work that includes great dance recordings such as Homenaje a Beny More (Pimienta 1989) and Indestructible (Sony 1997); explorations of Afro-Cuban religious music such as Babalu Aye (Bembe 1999) featuring the great Orisha music singer Lazaro Ros; as well as ambitious projects such as Tierra En Trance (Areito 1983) and Misa Negra (Messidor 1987).

With the fresh sound of his Afro-Cuban Messengers, Chucho Valdes honors Cuba’s African roots with an Irakere revival.