Yucca and danzón
Chucho
appeared on stage of L’Auditori of Barcelona to applause from the expectant
public of the 46th Barcelona International Jazz Festival. Before starting he told us about the formation
Irakere, the Cuban jazz group he co-founded in 1973. The night, Chucho alerted
us, was to honor largely the role of that band whose embryo goes back to 1967
with the creation of the Cuban Orchestra of Modern Music of which Chucho Valdés
was a member under the direction of Armando Romeu and Rafael Somavilla. Chucho
quickly became the group leader creating a quintet with which in 1970 he travelled
to Poland and after whose performance his reputation as one of the best
pianists in the world soared. Finally, in 1973 he formed Irakere, which in
Yoruba language means vegetation, combining jazz, rock, classical and
traditional Cuban music. The band has had some of the best Latin musicians such
as Arturo Sandoval and Paquito D'Rivera, and revolutionized Latin music.
The night
was an absolute delirium showing that L’ Auditori was an inappropriate place
for such wild rhythms. The feet went away, also the legs, but the seats forced
demure postures from a rhythmic point of view. Some refused to such repression
and gave vent to their urges lifting body and soul. The musicians themselves
asked us during the show, especially in the end, to get up, considering that
the furnace of the music so virtuously they were offering us was not for dry
buns in static armchairs but for knockout swinging movements.
The backing
band of the maestro Valdés were the Afro-Cuban Messengers, composed by Gastón
Joya, bass; Rodney Barreto, drums; Dreiser Durruthy Bombalé, batás and vocals;
Yaroldy Abreu Robles, percussion, and special guests Alexander Abreu, trumpet
and vocals; Reynaldo Melian, Molote, trumpet; Manuel Machado, trumpet; Rafael
Aguila, alto sax, and Ariel Bringuez, tenor sax. They all had their moment to
shine throughout the concert, all of them of the highest quality.
The songs were
performed in a good combination of powerful rhythm and melodic moments, taken
from the Irakere repertoire or from their recent album Border-free. The theme Claudia
(Guajira to Bebo) brought us back memories of the great Bebo Valdés, his
father, whose talent and smile many miss. The key sexual humor came from the
hand of the classic by Arsenio Rodríguez and versioned by Irakere El güayo de Catalina. 100 años de juventud is a Danzon that
Chucho Valdés composed for the centenary of Danzon and originally recorded with
Irakere, an absolutely delicious song. Another Irakere’s track was Por
romper el coco, a juicy and playful song. From his latest album I’d remark Congodanza in which the virtuosity of maestro
Valdés had free space enough to dance and leave us speechless. It’s a wonderful
piece that opens an excellent album. Just after it, it came Los guiros, a splendid and very rhythmic
piece, deep roots in African percussion and chants combined with the Chucho’s
piano contemporary view. Estela va a
estallar is another one of the age of Irakere, a version of the standard Stella by Starlight by Victor Young
composed as an instrumental for the musical film The Uninvited directed by Lewis Allen in 1944, and later Ned
Washington added the lyrics. Chucho joked with the change of the title and we
gave an impeccable performance.
There were
three encores, and all the audience wanted more. The evening was everything we
could have dreamed and even more. Thanks Mr. Valdés, please come back soon.
Text by Juan Carlos Romero
Chucho Valdés website www.valdeschucho.com
Photo courtesy of The Project | Festival Internacional de Jazz de Barcelona
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