New York, NY (Top40 Charts/ Workman Entertainment & Public Relations) Preeminent Cuban pianist and composer
Chucho Valdés will be joined by Spanish Jazz/Flamenco/Neo-Soul singer Buika on the famed Carnegie Hall stage. This special show will mark the first time the pair performs together in North America. Valdés and Buika recorded El Último Trago together in 2009 as a tribute to Mexican singer Chavela Vargas.
Chucho Valdés
For Valdés this show is part of a US tour with the Afro-Cuban Messengers throughout January and February 2012, which will feature tracks from the Grammy Award winning album, Chucho's Steps. In his first solo project since 2003's New Conception, Valdés once again speaks through his distinctive and extraordinary compositions and arrangements, reflecting his personal and creative evolution.
Born in Quivicán, Cuba, in 1941,
Chucho Valdés is one of Cuba's most famous pianists, bandleaders, composers and arrangers. Having began his music training with his father, famed pianist Bebo Valdés, when he was 3 years old, Chucho's style melds his diverse experiences and skills: classical, jazz, bop, Cuban and swing, all combined by his virtuosic dexterity on the piano. Perhaps best known for founding the influential Latin jazz band IRAKERE in 1972, Valdés continues to develop unique works of art, generating ideas for a change of style, orchestral format and concept, that nonetheless end up characteristically reflecting pure Chucho.
Chucho's illustrious career has garnered him 8 Grammy wins and 17 nominations over the past three decades. His most recent wins include a 2011 Grammy for Chucho's Steps, a 2010 Grammy and a 2009 Latin Grammy for the record Juntos para Siempre, which saw him collaborate with his father, Bebo Valdés, a major player on the Cuban jazz scene in his own right. Valdés has recorded over eighty CD's and performed with everybody who is somebody in the world of jazz, from
Herbie Hancock and
Dizzy Gillespie, to
Wynton Marsalis and Chick Corea. His reputation as one of the greatest living Cuban jazz pianists has earned him appearances on the greatest stages in music, including Carnegie Hall, The Kennedy Center and The Hollywood Bowl.
Buika (pronounced "BWEE-kah")
Throughout the last several years, Concha Buika's neo-soul, flamenco, jazz style has landed the Spanish singer much praise and success including a Latin Grammy; a role and two tracks featured in the new Pedro Almodovar film, "The Skin I Live In"; duets with R&B singer Seal; a new compilation CD, En Me Piel, and being named as one of the "50 Great Voices" of our time by NPR.
Even though Buika is now a resident of Florida, in many ways her heart belongs in New York and she is excited to perform on Carnegie Hall's stage alongside Valdés. "There is so much love and noise in New York; Like nothing I have ever seen before. It's amazing to walk down the street in a place where everything belongs to everyone. The city has its own explosion of music and I feel it in my heart and brain."
Buika's uniqueness lies not only in her smoky voice's intensity and emotional depth, which has been called "something like Nina Simone's but more flexible and virtuosic" by The New York Times, but also in her worldview and attitude.
Chucho Valdés: https://www.camimusic.com/details.asp?webid=2101
Buika: https://www.camimusic.com/details.asp?webid=1999
CHUCHO VALDÉS 2012 TOUR DATES
DATE - VENUE - CITY
January 20 - McCarter Theatre - Princeton, NJ
** January 21 - Carnegie Hall - New York, NY
January 22 - Prudential Hall - Newark, NJ
January 24 - American Theatre - Hampton, VA
January 26 - Merriam Theater - Philadelphia, PA
January 27 & 28 - Jorgensen Auditorium - Storrs, CT
January 29 - Staller Center for The Arts - Stony Brook, NY
January 31 - Eisenhower Auditorium - University Park, PA
February 1 - Modlin Center for the Arts - Richmond, VA
February 3 - Center for the Arts Concert Hall - Fairfax, VA
February 4 - Fairfield University's Quick Center - Fairfield, CT
February 7 -
Music Hall Center for Performing Arts - Detroit, MI
February 8 - Gartner Auditorium - Cleveland, OH
February 10 - The Englert Theatre - Iowa City, IA
February 11 - Sheldon Concert Hall - St. Louis, MO
February 12 - Missouri Theatre - Columbia, MO
February 14 - Gates Concert Hall - Denver, CO
February 16 - Walt Disney Concert Hall - Los Angeles, CA
February 18 -
Barbara K. and W. Turrentine Jackson Hall - Davis, CA
February 19 - Dinkelspiel Auditorium - Stanford, CA
February 20 - Herbst Theatre - San Francisco, CA
