Rock Paper Scissors - Cuban Essentials, Various Artists (Escondida Records)

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Sample Track 1:
"Ay, Candela" from Ibrahim Ferrer; Ay, Candela (Cuban Essentials)

Sample Track 2:
"Llora Mi Nena" from Eliades Ochoa; A La Casa De la Trova (Cuban Essentials)

Sample Track 3:
"Dolor Carabali" from The Best of Benny More (Cuban Essentials)

Buy Recording:
Ibrahim Ferrer; Ay, Candela (Cuban Essentials)

Buy Recording:
Eliades Ochoa; A La Casa De la Trova (Cuban Essentials)

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Chucho Valdes, Virtuoso (Escondida): Track listing and information

Chucho Valdés
Virtuoso
ESC 6518-2
UPC: 617465651823

Balada Para Caridad Y Emilio 2:42
El Bolero 4:47
Realidad 1:59
Improvisación 3:33
Niebla 1:43
Solamente Una Vez 3:51
Como Fue 4:33
El Día Que Me Quieras 5:55
Tu Me Acostumbraste 3:37
Sentimental 2:00
Tres Palabras 2:29
El Manisero 3:33
Dos Perlas Y Un Dolor 3:08
Novia Mía 3:29
Tú Mi Delirio 3:05

1. Balada Para Caridad Y Emilio 2:42
Written by Jesús “Chucho” Valdés
Published by Spirit Two o/b/o Hadem Music Corp.(ASCAP)/SGAE
(P) 1998 Empresa de Grabaciones y Ediciones Musicales

2. El Bolero 4:47
Written by Jesús “Chucho” Valdés
Published by Spirit Two o/b/o Hadem Music Corp. (ASCAP)/ SGAE
(P) 1998 Empresa de Grabaciones y Ediciones Musicales

3. Realidad 1:59
Written by Jesús “Chucho” Valdés
Published by Spirit Two o/b/o Hadem Music Corp. (ASCAP)/ SGAE
(P) 1998 Empresa de Grabaciones y Ediciones Musicales

4. Improvisación 3:33
Written by Jesús “Chucho” Valdés
Published by Spirit Two o/b/o Hadem Music Corp. (ASCAP/ SGAE
(P) 1998 Empresa de Grabaciones y Ediciones Musicales

5. Niebla 1:43
Written by Jesús “Chucho” Valdés
Published by Spirit Two o/b/o Hadem Music Corp. (ASCAP)/ SGAE
(P) 1998 Empresa de Grabaciones y Ediciones Musicales

6. Solamente Una Vez 3:51
Written by Agustín Lara
Published by Peer International Corp. (BMI)
(P) 1996 Empresa de Grabaciones y Ediciones Musicales

7.    Como Fue 4:33
Written by Ernesto Duarte
Published by Peer International Corp. (BMI)
(P) 1996 Empresa de Grabaciones y Ediciones Musicales

8. El Día Que Me Quieras          5:55
Written by Gardel y Lepera
Published by Rightsong Music Inc. admin. By Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp. (BMI)
(P) 1996 Empresa de Grabaciones y Ediciones Musicales

9. Tu Me Acostumbraste            3:37
Written by Frank Domínguez
Published by Peer International Corp. (BMI)
(P) 1996 Empresa de Grabaciones y Ediciones Musicales

10. Sentimental 2:00
Written by Jesús “Chucho” Valdés
Published by Spirit Two o/b/o Hadem Music Corp. (ASCAP) / SGAE
(P) 1998 Empresa de Grabaciones y Ediciones Musicales

11. Tres Palabras 2:29
Written by Osvaldo Farrés
Published by Peer International Corp. (BMI)
(P) 1996 Empresa de Grabaciones y Ediciones Musicales

12. El Manisero 3:33
Written by Moisés Simons
Published by Edward B. Marks Music Company (BMI)
(P) 1970 Empresa de Grabaciones y Ediciones Musicales

13. Dos Perlas Y Un Dolor 3:08
Written by Osvaldo Urrutia
Published by Copyright Control
(P) 1970 Empresa de Grabaciones y Ediciones Musicales

14. Novia Mía 3:29
Written by José A. Méndez
Published by Spirit Two o/b/o Hadem Music Corp. (ASCAP)/ SGAE
(P) 1970 Empresa de Grabaciones y Ediciones Musicales

15. Tú Mi Delirio 3:05
Written by César Portillo De La Luz
Published by Peer International Corp. (BMI)
(P) 1970 Empresa de Grabaciones y Ediciones Musicales

THE BEST OF CHUCHO VALDÉS
To achieve the highest goal for any creative artist has as much to do with serious discipline as with talent, and is often associated with the role that one's environment plays in childhood.

Chucho Valdés, who is justifiably considered to be one of the most important pianists of Latin jazz, is the palpable example.

This Cuban musician, born in the Havana district of Quivicán in 1941, had still not learned to speak or walk when he was already listening to the piano playing of his father Bebo Valdés and accompanying him to hear his orchestra - one of the most famous of the Fifties. Chucho was soon placed into the capable hands of music professors in Havana's Conservatory of Music, and by the Seventies - at barely 20 years old - he was already a sensational pianist.

Beginning with solo concerts, Chucho Valdés turned more and more toward jazz, playing in groups as well as in the Orquestra Cubana de Música Moderna de La Habana until he formed his own band named simply Combo de Chucho Valdés. This was the seed from which in 1973 - along with music greats like Arturo Sandoval, Paquito de Rivera, Jorge Varona, Carlos Emilio, Carlos Puerto and Enrique Plá - Chucho Valdés founded the band which became known throughout Cuba and the world as Group Irakere.

A boiling experimental workshop which, under his direction began to recreate Cuban classic music, Group Irakere took inspiration from the wealth of Afro-Cuban rhythm and Latin jazz was conceived. The quality of the new music was so good that in 1978 Irakere obtained a Grammy - something that until that moment had been forbidden to Cuban musicians who had stayed in Cuba after the Revolution.

Other successes were his albums "Havana", with trumpet player Roy Hargrove (1996), "Live at the Village Vanguard" (2000) and "Canciones Inéditas" (2002).

Some of the recordings on this CD were made by the young Chucho in 1970 with his Combo band, such as Novia mia (My Girlfriend) by José Antonio Méndez, and Tú, mi delirio (You, My Delirium) by César Portillo de la Luz – both Cuban masters of feeling. Also included is a piano version of the legendary El manisero (The Peanut Vendor) by Moisés Simons.

During a trip to Brazil in 1996 Irakere recorded the album “Boleros inolvidables” (Unforgettable Boleros). Several of the pieces from that recording appear here sung by Leo Vera (Solamente una vez or Only One Time, by Agustín Lara) and by the wonderful María Caridad Valdés (Como fue or As It Was, by Ernesto Duarte), as well as Tres palabras (Three Words) by Osvaldo Farré and Tú me acostumbraste (You Got Me Used to You) by Frank Domínguez. Most of the work that makes up The Best of Chucho Valdés, come from “Canciones Inéditas” (Balada a Caridad y Emilio, El bolero, Realidad, Improvisación, Niebla and Sentimental) - masterly examples of straightforward emotion that was recorded with a profound knowledge and understanding of Cuban popular music.

Chucho’s enormous talent never failed to take advantage of the possibilities that life put before him from the day his father placed his hands on the keyboard when he was just three years old. Early on, he began to absorb the works and sounds of such masters as Ernesto Lecuona, Peruchín Justiz, Jorge Bolet, Lilí Martínez Griñán, and his own father Bebo Valdés. He was equally influenced by artists outside Cuba such as Bill Evans, Oscar Peterson and Herbie Hancock.

This anthology of the recorded work of Chucho Valdés, will incite listeners to seek other works by this stupendous Cuban pianist who, as he enters his seventies, still performs with the fresh energy of youth.

Bladimir Zamora Grasses
Old Havana, December, 2004.

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