Chucho Valdes, Live at the Village Vanguard - 1h 3m 45s

Tracks & Durations

1. Anabis	9:46
2. Son XXI	5:27
3. Punto Cubano	6:18
4. My Funny Valentine	5:37
5. To Bud Powell	10:45
6. Drume Negrita	5:31
7. Como Traigo La Yuca	6:36
8. Ponte La Clave	9:36
9. Encore - Lorraine's Habenera	4:04

Note: The information about this album is acquired from the publicly available resources and we are not responsible for their accuracy.

Review

Put the force of McCoy Tyner, the superhuman keyboard agility of Art Tatum, and the delicacy of Erroll Garner into a 6-foot-4 Cuban-born frame, and you'll get Jesus "Chucho" Valdes, one of the greatest piano players on the planet. For three decades, Valdes led the Cuban superband Irakere, with Paquito D'Rivera and Arturo Sandoval. But in the last few years, Valdes has been spotlighting his pianistic prowess in small combos such as the quartet he led during a spirited stint at the legendary Village Vanguard in 1999. Backed by a young group of Cuban musicians--drummer Raul Pineda Roque, percussionist Roberto Vizcaino Guillot, and bassist Franciso Rubio Pampin--Valdes turns the piano into a hurricane of melody, harmony, and rhythm. Valdes's masterful manipulations of African American jazz and Afro-Cuban rhythms ring through on the supersonic tempo of "Anabis," the frenetic bebop licks on the tribute "To Bud Powell," and the Thelonious Monk-like block chords on the midtempo "Son XXI (Para Pia)." As an arranger, Valdes ingeniously reworks old Cuban standards such as "The Peanut Vendor" and "Que Bueno Baila Usted" into his own Caribbean-charged compositions, "Punto Cubano" and "Como Traigo La Yuca." Another island gem, "Drume Negrita," is redone with a funky swing capped by the vibrant vocals of the leader's sister, Mayra Caridad Valdes. The climax of this stirring set is "Ponle La Clave," Valdes's atmospheric African drum celebration that percussively points to the motherland that birthed Cuba's folkloric fusions. Valdes's tender "Encore-- Lorraine's Habanera," named for the Village Vanguard's owner--gently brings the eager and amazed audience back to Earth. --Eugene Holley Jr.

Other Versions

Albums are mined from the various public resources and can be actually the same but different in the tracks length only. We are keeping all versions now.

Live at the Village Vanguard

Tracks: 9, Disk length: 1h 3m 29s (-1m 44s)

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