The National Jazz Museum will celebrate Bebo Valdés with “Bebo Valdés--Giant of Cuban Music” event as part of the Jazz For Curious Listeners series.
The opening on September 16th includes a screening and listening sessions on Cuban musical culture in the early twentieth century.
Cuban pianist, bandleader, arranger and composer Bebo Valdés (1918-2013) was a key figure in Cuban music as one of the inventors of the big-band mambo romantic ballad movement called filin.
Valdes was a be-bopper who recorded the first Cuban jam session, or descarga in 1952.
However, Bebo left Cuba on October 26, 1960 to later settle in Stockholm in 1963. There he played at night at a piano bar and became a reclusive from the public for decades. However, he recorded Bebo Rides Again in 1994 after 30 years of hiding away. He also made it to the big screen in Latin-jazz documentary Calle 54 in 2000. A year later, he released Lágrimas Negras, featuring singer Diego El Cigala.
He played his last concert tour in a duo with son Chucho Valdés at the age of 90.
The event is curated by historian/writers Rene Lopez, Robert Ashley expert Ned Sublette and Bob Sancho with design by Nato Rosado.
Watch below as Bebo Valdés and son Chucho Valdés perform "Tres Palabras."
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