Cuban pianist, bandleader, composer, and arranger Chucho Valdés is a highly accomplished and deeply influential figure in the world of Latin and Afro-Cuban jazz. A founding member of the seminal Cuban ensemble Irakere, Valdés first emerged to acclaim in the 1970s and is recognized worldwide for his distinctive fusion of Afro-Cuban, post-bop jazz, and classical and rock traditions. Over his 60-year career, he has performed alongside such luminaries as Dizzy Gillespie, Tito Puente, Arturo Sandoval, Roy Hargrove, and his father, esteemed pianist Bebo Valdés. He is the winner of six Grammy Awards and four Latin Grammy Awards, including for 2000's Live at the Village Vanguard, 2010's Chucho's Steps, and 2018's Jazz Batá 2. He is a 2018 recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Latin Academy of Recording Arts & Science, the same year he was inducted into the Latin Songwriters Hall of Fame.

Born in Quivican in 1941, Valdés is the son of the similarly influential Cuban bandleader Bebo Valdés, from whom Chucho first received piano lessons. Having exhibited musical talent from a young age, Valdés eventually enrolled in the Municipal Music Conservatory of Havana, graduating at age 14. Inspired by such jazz pianists as Art Tatum and Thelonious Monk, Valdes quickly formed his first jazz trio and began a fruitful period that found him landing several high-profile performance jobs in hotels around Havana including performing with the Sabor de Cuba Orchestra, which was directed by his father. These performances continued throughout the '60s and allowed Valdés not only to perform with the best musicians in Cuba, but to begin formulating his own unique ideas about mixing jazz, classical, and Cuban styles of music. In 1970, Valdés and his combo became the first Cuban jazz group to perform abroad after appearing at the Jazz Jamboree International Jazz Festival in Poland.

In 1973, Valdés formed the innovative and highly influential Latin jazz ensemble Irakere. The group featured various members of the Orquesta Nacional de Musica Moderna including such stars of the Cuban music scene as trumpeter Arturo Sandoval and alto saxophonist Paquito D'Rivera. With its unique mix of jazz, rock, funk, classical and traditional Cuban rhythms, Irakere was an explosive and creative ensemble that quickly caught the attention of international audiences. Although there have been many compilations of Irakere, it was the band's Grammy-winning 1979 self-titled concert album, recorded at the Newport Jazz Festival a year before, that really sparked international interest in the group. Although the band's line-up has changed over the years -- D'Rivera defected to the United States in 1980 and Sandoval (who did not defect until 1990) formed his own group in 1981 -- Irakere continues to perform and record with Valdés and new members.

Although Valdés never left Cuba, the virtuoso has kept a high-profile touring schedule and in 2006 was named the Goodwill Ambassador of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Valdes has released a steady flow of albums including 1981's Tema de Chaka, 1988's Lucumi, 1998's Bele Bele en la Habana. Also in 1998, he took home yet another Grammy for his work on trumpeter Roy Hargrove's album Habana.

The pianist has also recorded regularly for Blue Note, winning a Grammy for 2000's Live at the Village Vanguard. Two years later, he explored his love of classical composers Frederic Chopin, Claude Debussy, and Maurice Ravel on Fantasia Cubana: Variations on Classical Themes (Blue Note). Released in 2008, Juntos Para Siempre found Valdés paired in a duo with his father Bebo. It won the Grammy for Best Latin Jazz Album. Chucho's Steps arrived in 2010 and featured the pianist's Art Blakey-inspired group, the Afro-Cuban Messengers. It also won the Grammy for Best Latin Jazz Album and was followed in 2011 by Omara Chucho and in 2013 by Border-Free.

A new concert album, Tribute to Irakere: Live in Marciac, was issued in 2015. Two years later, Valdés collaborated with Arturo O'Farrill on Familia: Tribute to Bebo Chico, an homage to their legendary fathers and shared musical legacies. In 2018, Valdés made his Mack Avenue-debut with Jazz Batá 2, which took home a Latin Grammy Best Jazz Album. That same year, he was inducted into the Latin Songwriters Hall of Fame and bestowed with a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Latin Academy of Recording Arts & Science. ~ Matt Collar, Rovi