|
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
Bebo Valdes with the JALC Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra 10/13-14 in New York and 10/19 in Miami |
|
|
|
Written by Ronaldo Oregano
|
|
Tuesday, 03 October 2006 |
 Bebo Valdes
On October 14, in the spirit of Hispanic Heritage month, ticket holders
can sample free delectable Latin-infused creations before the concert.
The food and beverage tasting will be held in the Atrium in Frederick
P. Rose Hall at 6:30pm. Bebo Valdes and the Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra
will also be performed in Miami on October 19 at the Jackie Gleason
Theater.
Mr. Valdes, whose 88th birthday coincides with the concert, continues
to play with clavè and precision that has earned him GRAMMY®
and Latin GRAMMY® awards and nominations.
Just 10 years ago, Valdes was serenading travelers at hotels and bars
in Stockholm as a lounge pianist. In a recent inerview on National Public Radio Bebo Valdes
explained why he was content just playing piano in Sweden: "If you are
a musician, and you do one thing, you should enjoy what you do. This is
my profession and it is my hobby. And I live in love with what I do. In
those years in Stockholm, even if I wasn't successful, I did it because
I liked it. And I would keep doing it until I die."
When he was 7 years old, Valdes was mesmerized by a pianist
accompanying a dance orchestra. Valdes went on to study European and
Cuban classical music at the Municipal Conservatory in Havana. After
class he revelled in the music of the Cuban streets, the
African-influenced rumba. Then in the early 1930s, he heard American
jazz. His influences included Jelly Roll Morton, Tommy Dorsey and Dizzy
Gillespie. Bebo recalled that time in a Flamenco World interview:
"Cuba was frequented a great deal by Americans in those times,
especially from November to March. They used to come and do rumbas, and
play in the casinos... I was already into jazz at that time, though I
was also absorbing the street routine, the boogie boogie, the
danzón, the rumba. Then I started working with Cachao in an
orchestra that we set up in 1937 in which he 'disintegrated' the mambo
his way with those crazy low notes that he threw in. Then Camacho's
orchestra came, but I went on studying. In 1943 I joined the group of
Wilfredo García Curbelo 'Curbelito'. I was already finishing my
studies in those years; I had finished harmony and was beginning with
counterpoint and orchestration. I wasn't used to varying tones in the
middle of a show, so I was forced to go from the conservatory school to
the street school."
In 1948, Valdes fuesed his studies with the influences of American
jazz, Cuban melodies and African rhythms when he became the principal
pianist and arranger for the house orchestra of Havana's Tropicana
night club, the crown jewel of Cuban nightlife. The top singers and
orchestras in Cuba soon relied on Valdes for their arrangements.
After the revolutionary government took over the country in 1959 many
of the island's casino's and nightclubs were shut down. Valdes started
his own orchestra, and in October 1960 he asked for permission to
travel to Mexico with the band and did not return. It was a difficult
personal decision: he left behind a wife and five children.
Valdes didn't look back. He went to Europe, where in 1963 he married
and started a new family in Stockholm. A 1994 CD, Bebo Rides Again,
jump-started the pianist's career.
He explained in a Flanmenco World
interview: "Paquito called me up one day in 1994 and asked me to help
him because he had to do a musical presentation and he needed original
pieces. I told him that I was away from that, that I hadn't composed
anything for years. But do you have any ideas? Yes, I have quite a few
ideas. Then I started going through my material and in 36 hours I
prepared some pieces like 'Oleaje' ('Swell'), a score for piano solo.
The album was for Paquito, but in the end he ceded the credits to me
and that's how 'Bebo Rides Again' ('Bebo Cabalga de Nuevo', in
Spanish) finally appeared."
 Arturo O'Farrill Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra © John Abbot
The Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra
(ALJO) is led by pianist and musical director Arturo O’Farrill. The ALJO is the
second resident orchestra of Jazz at Lincoln Center, joining the
Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis. Comprised of 18
prominent soloists from the Latin jazz scene, this large ensemble will
play classics of the Afro-Latin jazz tradition, commission new works
and lead educational events. With the founding of this new ensemble in
2002, Jazz at Lincoln Center helps to continue the long tradition of
artistic collaboration
between jazz and Latin musicians. The ALJO performs the very best of
the compositions in the canon of the Afro-Latin genre and provides an
instrument for a new generation of
composers, arrangers and instrumentalists to further progress this
craft. In 2006, the band’s debut album, Una Noche Inolvidable, on
Palmetto Records, was nominated for a GRAMMY® in the Best
Traditional Tropical Latin Album category.
Bebo Valdes and the Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra is the Latin big band's
first concert during Jazz at Lincoln Center's 2006-07 season. Tickets
for this special concert are $30, $50, $80, $120 and are available at
the Jazz at Lincoln Center Box Office on Broadway at 60th St., by
calling CenterCharge at (212) 721-6500 or via www.jalc.org.
|
|
 Thursday, 21 August 2008
|
|
|
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
|
Home | CD Reviews | Interviews | SF Bay Area | Chicago | Los Angeles | New York | Twin Cities, MN | More Cities | Festivals | FAQ | News | Contact | Video of the Week | 
