Bebo Valdes - Bebo de Cuba (2004) 2CD

×

Bebo Valdes - Bebo de Cuba (2004) 2CD

Close

Bebo Valdés (born Ramón Emilio Valdés Amaro in Quivicán, Havana, 9 October 1918) is a Cuban pianist, bandleader, composer and arranger. He was a central figure in the golden age of Cuban music, During the 40’s he played with several orchestras in La Habana, and he already recorded albums of afrocuban jazz in those years.

Valdés started his career as a pianist in the night clubs of Havana during the 1940s. From 1948 to 1957 he worked as pianist and arranger for the vedette Rita Montaner, who was the lead act in the Tropicana cabaret. His orchestra Sabor de Cuba, and that of Armando Valdés, alternated at the Tropicana backing singers such as Benny More and Pío Leyva. Valdés played a role in the development of the mambo during the 1950s, and developed a new rhythm to compete with Perez Prado's mambo, called the batanga. Valdés was also an important figure in Cuban jazz and taking part in the Panart Cuban jazz sessions (one was commissioned by American producer Norman Granz). In the late 1950s he recorded with Nat King Cole.

In 1960, with his singer Rolando La Serie, Bebo left Cuba for Mexico. He then lived briefly in the United States before touring Europe, and eventually settled in Stockholm, Sweden in 1963, where he stayed for over 30 years in the anonymity, and where he worked as pianist in a hotel of the capital.

His once splendid career never took flight again in his swedish exile. Fortunately in 1994 Paquito d’Rivera invited him to collaborate on his new disc, restarting again his true musical activity at the age of 76.

In 2000, spanish filmdirector Fernando Trueba and his documentary film "Calle 54" about latin jazz brought him piano playing to a wide audience again. In 2004 he was again filmed by Trueba, in El milagro de Candeal, in Brazil. In 2003 he and Diego El Cigala, a famous spanish flamenco singer, recorded in Spain the album "Lagrimas Negras", a fusion of Cuban rhythms and flamenco vocals, which was a big success and got a Grammy Award.

In total Bebo Valdes has won five Grammy Awards: two for El arte del sabor in 2002, one for Lagrimas negras, and two for Bebo de Cuba in 2006 (in the categories Best traditional tropical album and Best Latin jazz album).

With the many spanish collaborations and activity in Spain, he finally settled in 2008 in Malaga, where he still lives since then.

×

Bebo Valdes - Bebo de Cuba (2004) 2CD

Close