The renowned Cuban pianist and composer Chucho Valdés has been distinguished with the 2025 Master Jazz Award, the highest award to a jazzist in the United States.
This is the first time that a foreign and Latin American artist receives this distinction, which annually delivers the National Fund for Arts (NEA).
The Awards ceremony will be held next Saturday, April 26 In the Kennedy center, in Washington Dc., During the traditional annual concert organized by the NEA, he said Latin press.
Next to ValdésThree other outstanding exponents of American jazz will be recognized: the saxophonist Marshall Allen, the pianist Marilyn Chizy and the music critic Gary Giddins, all honored by their exceptional contributions to the genre.
Chucho Valdés, considered the most influential figure of modern Afro -Cuban jazz, currently resides in the United States and thus adds a new recognition of its extensive trajectory.
Chucho Valdés and the Leonard Bernstein 2025 award
Barely Last week, Chucho Valdés received the Leonard Bernstein 2025 Award to the trajectory, granted by the Longy School of Music From Cambridge, Massachusetts.
The delivery of this last recognition was in charge of Karen Zorn, president of Longy, and Jamie Bernstein, daughter of the famous composer and director of Orchestra Leonard Bernstein.
By justifying its decision, the institution stressed that Valdés “embodies many of the key values that are cultivated in Longy, including the freedom to explore, creative thinking and innovation, and the joy of making and sharing music with others.”
Valdés, 83, has a career of more than six decades in which he has masterfully merged elements of Afro -Cuban music, jazz, classical music, rock and other genres, shaping a unique and deeply personal style.
Throughout his career he has shone as a soloist and orchestra director. It was also The founder of the influential group Irakere.
Born on October 9, 1941 in a family of musicians, his training began from childhood under the guidance of his father, the legendary Bebo Valdés, and his mother Pilar Rodríguez, singer and piano teacher.
Among the numerous awards he has received throughout his career are the National Music Award from Cuba (2020), 13 Grammy Awards —Incluid seven Latin Grammy – and its entry in 2018 to Pavilion of the fame of Latin composers.
