Chucho Valdés: Irakere 50

“One of the finest jazz bands, regardless of style, in the world. (The Los Angeles Times)

Irakere was brought to international attention by Dizzy Gillespie, who was visiting Havana on a jazz cruise, in 1977. The following year, producer Bruce Lundvall, then president of CBS, went to Cuba on Dizzy’s advice, heard the band live and signed it on the spot. The same year Irakere debuted, unannounced, as “surprise guests,” at Carnegie Hall as part of the Newport Jazz Festival. Selections from that performance were later included in Irakere (CBS), the band’s debut recording in the United States. The album won a Grammy as Best Latin Recording in 1979. Irakere’s innovative sound forever changed the landscape of Cuban music and influenced generations of musicians to follow.

As members such as Paquito D’Rivera and Arturo Sandoval came and went, Chucho stayed with Irakere until 2005. Through the many changes the band experienced over the years, he remained the one, essential constant. In 2015, Chucho celebrated the 40th anniversary of the birth of Irakere, his iconic band, with a world tour. Tribute to Irakere: Live in Marciac (Jazz Village / Comanche Music), which captured a performance on that tour, won a Grammy for the Best Latin Jazz Album in 2016.

A springboard from Chucho’s Grammy-winning Afro-Cuban Messengers band, Irakere 50 is as much a retrospective of his celebrated career as a showcase for a blazing new generation of Cuban talent. Chucho says, “When I decided to do a tribute to that marvelous band, I also decided I didn’t want to do it with the charter members but with players from the generations of musicians that grew up and learned from Irakere. I thought it would be more meaningful. It’s a tribute from one generation to another.”