Chucho Valdés is a true musical statesman – he is the living embodiment of the history of Afro-Cuban jazz and the major representative of the current state of the art. A protean performer whether solo or leading small or large ensembles, Valdés has won six GRAMMY and three Latin GRAMMY Awards, and is among the most influential figures in modern Afro-Cuban jazz.
In 1972, Valdés released Jazz Batá, a forward-thinking convergence of modern jazz and folkloric rhythms that prefigured much of the Afro-Cuban jazz of today. Last year’s Jazz Batá 2 is a brilliant sequel that, almost a half-century later, “burnishes his stature as a towering Afro-Cuban pianist of our time.” ----WBGO
With his electrifying quartet, the Cuban percussionist Dafnis Prieto makes music that is “dynamic to the extreme … a slippery amalgam of complex polyrhythm and incantatory melody.” (The New York Times) A MacArthur Fellowship, GRAMMY Award, and multiple Latin GRAMMY nominations are among his many honors.
