Maestro Jesús “Chucho” Valdés is an iconic figure in the world of Afro-Cuban jazz and at 82 years of age, he is simply at the pinnacle of virtuosity and musical creativity. For four nights (Feb.15–Feb.18) he and his Irakere 50 sold out the Miner Auditorium at the SFJAZZ Center with standing-room-only shows honoring the Cuban supergroup he co-founded in 1973.
What made the evenings special was that it was not just a nostalgia concert dusting off and performing charts by the seminal Grammy-winning Irakere of old, but it also showcased new compositions Valdés wrote specifically for this superb Irakere 50 nonet of musicians who in most cases were children, or not even born yet, when Irakere came to be.
“I’m very happy to be here in San Francisco celebrating this 50th anniversary of Irakere with a generation of young musicians who grew up playing our music and doing it very well,” expressed Valdés after his Friday, Feb.16 show. “It’s been tremendous, as was the reunion last week with Paquito D’Rivera and Arturo Sandoval in Miami, FL, who were co-founders of Irakere. It’s been very emotional for me.”
IRAKERE 50
The Friday evening show opened with an introduction of Batá drums, the sacred hourglass-shaped drums of Santeria, by Robeto Jr. Vizcaino, the son of the longtime Irakere percussionist. Valdés sat majestically at the Steinway piano in a blue suit with his trademark Kangol cap worn backward as singer Ramon Alvarez sang Luccumi verses that opened the door to a showcase of outstanding musicianship and unique compositions.
In its infancy, Irakere was made up of musicians who broke away from the state-run Orquesta Cubana De Musica Moderna and were scrutinized for playing rock and jazz, then considered American imperialistic music by the regime of Fidel Castro and prohibited. It took a lot of sacrifice on the part of the musicians who skirted around the governmental restrictions to formulate their fusion of rock, jazz, funk, and traditional Cuban music.
“It was worth the struggle,” adds Valdés, “because the group garnered success in Cuba and around the world and now we are remembering that legacy. We regret all those who have passed on and lament those who could not get US Visas to join us for these performances like Enrique Pla and Carlos Del Puerto.”
A sedate piece featuring Carlos Averhoff Jr. on soprano saxophone followed. His father was a longtime tenor saxophonist with Irakere and the selection was dedicated to him. “I never imagined that the sons Carlos Averhoff and Roberto Vizcaino would ever play with me, but they grew up with this music and here they are.”
COSAS RARAS
The brilliance of Valdés piano took front and center on his arrangement of the American standard, “Stella By Starlight”, which he called, “Estela Va Estrellar”. The piece opened with a rubato solo piano introduction before the arrangement took an upbeat turn and the horn section came in with tight as door nails horn lines. Luis Beltran followed Valdés and delivered a stunning alto sax solo. From Miami, and a member of the group Tiempo Libre, this was one of many special moments he provided. Valdés then picked it up from there and grooved to a Mambo beat laying down rapid-fire improvised melodies before he brought his solo to a climatic peak with two-fisted chord clusters. Add a bass solo by Armando Gola, as well as bongo and trumpet solos, and it supplemented the vibrancy of the piece before the angular horn riffs brought it to a hard finish.
Valdés then surprised the audience, which from the beginning was exuberant clapping and hollering for solos and stunning ensemble sections, with new compositions that he introduced as rare for the style of Irakere. “Lorena’s Tango” was dedicated to his wife and had the authentic flair of the Argentine tango with drummer Horacio “Negro” Hernandez playing a snare with Gala playing the melody in a duo with Valdés.
Then the tango shifted into a jazzy swing shuffle as Valdés dug in and played the blues with a soulful delivery, at times resonating with a gospel feel. Beltran came in strong to follow with long notes coupled with fast bebop lines. A glowing piece of music with an arrangement full of surprises fusing tango, with straight-ahead jazz and Afro-Cuban ideas.
HORACIO ‘NEGRO’ HERNANDEZ
The next debut was a composition titled, “Tema De Dos Güiros”, which featured the renowned trap drummer, Horacio “Negro” Hernandez. The son of the Cuban jazz broadcaster, Horacio Hernandez, who also co-founded El Club Cubano De Jazz in the 1950s, he grew up going with his father to Irakere rehearsals as a little boy and was greatly influenced by Irakere drummer, Enrique Pla, known as “el tambor de Cuba.”
“I was ten years old when this band was formed, and my father was a good friend of Chucho and all the founding members of Irakere. It’s a dream come true for me and an honor to sit in the chair once occupied by Enrique Pla. When I was a child, I used to imagine I was him playing with Irakere while all my other brothers wanted to be baseball players. Pla was also my teacher and he’s still teaching in Cuba.”
Horacio raised the temperature of the room with his ambidextrous drum solo focusing on snare drum rolls before adding to the tonal quality of his solo focusing on the Tom Toms and cymbals with his Hi Hat snapping like a shark biting at a piece of meat. Young Vizcaino Jr. then came in with a flash digging into five congas with a solid sound and energetic speed accenting his beat with a solid slap on the skins.
IRAKERE FLASHBACKS
Ramon Alvarez returned supercharged and got the audience riled up with a call-and-response chant of “bembe la wa”, and with that, the dance portion kicked into full gear with classics like “Pa’ Romper El Coco”, “Tu Veras Lo Que Va Pasar”, “Xiomara”, and “Bacalao Con Pan”, the encore of the evening. Alvarez is blessed with a deep baritone voice and a charismatic personality that is magnetic on stage and encourages the audience to sing along, clap, and wave their hands.
At this point, most of the audience was on their feet as Valdés attacked the Steinway piano with knuckle-busting montunoes and twinkling octave runs delivered with high-powered athleticism. As an improviser Valdés is extraordinary but when it comes to Cuban dance music he plays to the people and as the trumpets — Eddie De Armas and Osvaldo Fleites — took turns blowing brass happy solos he sat smiling content to fuel the fire as the enthusiastic audience danced on the floor, in their seats, and singing along to choruses.
The Miner Auditorium of the SFJAZZ Center is a jewel of a venue to experience a concert. Superb sound with excellent sightlines and unique lighting designs enhanced the show and added to the historic occasion.
Overall, Chucho Valdés will go down as a transcendent figure in Cuban music. A man who broke down cultural barriers between the US and Cuba by using his music and leadership to change the hearts and minds of both societies. As this concert attests, his unique musical imagination created an amalgam with a groundbreaking experimental group that dared to change the face of Latin music and proved to the Cuban authorities that American jazz, rock, and funk, were not the enemy but branches of the same tree.
As Rebeca Mauleon, education director for SFJAZZ, said in her introduction to the concert “We are here to celebrate a legacy” and everyone who attended understood we were all witnessing an important milestone in a city that loves Chucho Valdés and that he loves as well. “San Francisco has always been very special to me. I have many friends here and I will continue coming back. Viva San Francisco!”