the cuban pianist Chucho Valdes and the saxophonist and clarinetist Paquito D’Rivera, considered two living legends of the cuban music and the Latin sound, relived in the Barranquijazz their musical adventures, their endearing friendship and referred to the legacy that began more than 60 years ago.
During a conversation in the Jumbo room of the Country Club in this Colombian Caribbean city, Valdés and D’Rivera reviewed their careers, from when they played at the Musical Theater of Havana and in the Cuban Modern Music Orchestra in 1967 until when they founded the legendary Irakere orchestra in 1973.
The presentation of the two artists took place within the framework of the 26th edition of Barranquijazzthe most important jazz festival in the Caribbean.
When asked about the reason that led to the musical reunion after many years of having taken different paths, the two jazz masters said that “it was the fault of a Brazilian piece of music called Chorrinos.”
Valdés said that once he was watching some videos on YouTube and he came across one of a clarinet quartet in which his great friend was. “I was shocked and said to myself, I’m going to call Paquito and I suggested that we work together again because for me he is one of the great musicians, not only of Cuban music, but of music,” he explained.
“I told him: ‘Damn, Paquito, I miss you'”, Valdés noted excitedly when explaining that from there the reunion arose that is now embodied in a new album called “I Missed You Too” and with which they are advancing a tour world.
With the poet Miguel Iriarte as moderator, in the conversation the two artists recalled that they had known each other since they were very young when they were already recognized as “prodigies” and their respective parents, Tito D’Rivera and Bebo Valdés, were renowned musicians in Havana.
D’Rivera, 74, began studying music when he was five years old and at seven he was already a child prodigy who performed in public, while Valdés, who has already turned 80, at three already stood out as a virtuoso pianist.
“The first time I heard of Paquito was when they said that Tito D’Rivera’s son was a genius,” said Chucho, while his partner, in the midst of laughter, affirmed that “Bebo” did not even know that his three-year-old son was already Played the piano.
His legacy
The joint work of these two legends began when in 1967 they founded the Cuban Modern Music Orchestra and in 1973 they gave birth to Irakere, which broke into the musical world with fusions of jazz, rock, traditional Cuban music and classical music.
In addition to explanations about the evolution of their music over the years, the conversation was marked by anecdotes from when they were working together. “Despite the fact that I was the conductor of the orchestra, in reality the one who did that work was Paquito”, Valdés confessed, to which D’Rivera replied that “someone had to do the dirty work”.
While Chucho Valdés, whose first name is Dionisio Jesús, currently resides in Havana and teaches as a professor at the Higher Institute of Art in Havana, Paquito D’Rivera lives in the United States, after having fled from Cuba during a trip to Finland, making a stopover in Spain, where he requested asylum at the United States Embassy.
