Your "Creation" suite incorporates elements of Santería ritual music, West African music, and the blues. I want to save the history and the instruments and the language of our culture. My family is of Yoruban descent, so it’s a part of our identity. I’ve been studying the roots of the Yoruban story for a long time, and the influence of it on the people of the Caribbean. Why was it important to you to explore the creation story? Your new four-movement suite explores the story of creation according to La Regla De Ocha, the Yoruba-descended religion typically called Santeria. He mostly spoke in Spanish while his nephew translated, and occasionally broke off into English mid-way through responses. When sat down to chat over Zoom from Miami about the new suite, he wore his signature Kangol hat turned backwards, and smiled and laughed often. including last week at New York City's Jazz at Lincoln Center. Valdés and the Yoruban Orchestra have been performing his latest four-part suite, "The Creation," throughout the U.S. His father, Bebo, was the pianist and director of the Tropicana Club orchestra and Orquesta Sabor de Cuba, and his son Chuchito also plays piano. He’s released seven albums on the Blue Note jazz label. Valdés, who turns 81 this month, founded the iconic Cuban jazz group Irakere - which featured artists like Arturo Sandoval and Paquito D’Rivera - in the 1970s. His eyebrows raise up in amusement when he begins an expressive piano piece, or when he’s asked interview questions he likes. He smiles when he plays something he likes on the piano, or when a bandmate surprises him with a tasteful note or phrase onstage. The Cuban pianist, bandleader, composer, and arranger Chucho Valdés seems to have a permanent smile on his face. has earned him seven GRAMMY Awards and four Latin GRAMMYs. recently caught up with Chucho Valdés, whose work has greatly influenced Latin and Afro-Cuban jazz. Presented by, Living Legends is an editorial series that honors icons in music and celebrates their inimitable legacies and ongoing impact on culture.
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