Dionisio Ramón Emilio Valdés Amaro

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Interpreter of Cuban music and jazz, considered one of the central figures of the golden age of Cuban music. In addition to being a pianist, his most well-known facet, he has been a composer, arranger, and conductor. Cuban by birth, Valdés is the greatest exponent of Afro-Cuban Jazz, a genre that thanks to this pianist became known and continues to be acclaimed throughout the world. He is the father of another outstanding Cuban jazz pianist: Chucho Valdés.

Grandson of slaves in Cuba, he was born in the town of Quivicán in the province of La Habana, and at age 7 he began his piano studies. At the same time, he participated in school groups singing and playing maracas. At 18 years old he moved with his aunt to La Habana, where he made a living peeling potatoes in a Chinese restaurant. While studying at the Municipal Conservatory of Music in Havana under illustrious teachers of the caliber of Harold Gramatges and Oscar Muñoz Boufartique. In the 1940s he left the conservatory and began a professional career that opened new horizons in Cuban music.

He began his professional career as a pianist for one of the most popular orchestras of the time, that of Julio Cueva, for which he composed the mambo "La rareza del siglo."

The 1940s unfolded and the famous Cuban bass player, Israel López Cachao, changed the course of Cuban music with his danzón "Mambo." Bebo joined Armando Romeu's orchestra at Tropicana, the most famous cabaret on the Island. In a short time, he became the musical advisor of the famous cabaret. He played in La Habana at that time, also in the Ulacia orchestras, García Curbelo, and Julio Cueva's Orchestra, and recorded albums with groups dedicated to performing Afro-Cuban jazz.

Known among his relatives and friends with the affectionate nickname Caballón because of his considerable height, he composed mambos, such as La rareza del siglo, which embodied the genre recently introduced by Cachao and which would change the course of Cuban music.

He began working with Cachao, a childhood friend, in an orchestra they formed in 1937 in which Cachao "disintegrated" the mambo in his own way with those wild bass lines he would throw in. Then came Camacho's orchestra, but Bebo did not stop studying. In 1943 he joined Wilfredo García Curbelo's group "Curbelito." By those years he was already finishing his studies, had completed harmony and was beginning counterpoint and orchestration. He was not accustomed to changing keys in the middle of a show, so, by necessity, he had to go from the university of the conservatory to the university of the streets.

In 1947 he traveled to Haiti and deepened his African roots, an influence that would mark his life and music to this day. Upon his return to Havana, he joined Armando Romeu's orchestra.

In 1952, producer Norman Granz, enthusiastic about the reaction to Afro-Cuban jazz in New York, commissioned Valdés to record a pioneering Cuban jazz recording at the time, with Beny Moré as vocalist.

During those dates, Valdés' orchestra was heard on the radio throughout the length and breadth of the island. One of the vocalists is Benny More, who was inspired by the formation to create his own big band. For his part, Bebo created a new rhythm, the batanga, and continued composing. One of his songs, "Rimando el cha-cha-cha," was a hit for the Riverside Orchestra. He signed to accompany artists on the Gema label. Among them is a singer of incomparable phrasing, "El Guapachoso" Rolando Laserie, whose popularity is only surpassed by Moré. After providing great successes to his Sabor orchestra, in 1960 he moved consecutively to Mexico, the United States, Spain, and Sweden, where he settled in 1960.

His first period in Mexico he spent as musical director of Chilean bolero singer Lucho Gatica. He toured Europe with the Havana Cuban Boys. Creator of the batanga, his life took a complete turnaround when he decided to go into exile in 1960 in Sweden where he took root and created a family, remaining far from music for a very long time. His first contract would have him playing for six months in a club in the Arctic Circle.

In Stockholm, he fell in love, got married, and sank into complete anonymity. More than thirty years passed. It was on November 25, 1994 when Bebo received a call from Paquito D'Rivera, inviting him to record a new album in Germany. Three days later, D'Rivera produced Bebo Rides Again, a collection of Cuban classics and originals by Valdés, composed especially for the occasion. Time does not pass in vain. It sounds better than ever. A new career begins at age 76.

In addition to his participation in Fernando Trueba's music documentary, El milagro de Candeal and Calle 54 (2000), Bebo recorded together with Cachao and Patato Valdés the album El Arte del Sabor (2001) for which he received a Grammy Award for Best Traditional Tropical Album.

In 2000, the film directed by Fernando Trueba, Calle 54, was released, along with a double CD of its soundtrack. The success was extraordinary; it is a series of historical encounters among the greatest names in Latin Jazz, among those who participated, among others, Bebo Valdés, Tito Puente, Eliane Elias, Jerry González, Michel Camilo, Paquito D'Rivera himself, Cachao, and many other extraordinary Afro-Latin musicians. His recent album, with Lola Records, titled "El Arte del Sabor" with Cachao and Patato, came out in April 2001. They awarded him a Grammy for Best Traditional Tropical Album.

In 2002, Fernando Trueba produced Lágrimas negras, an album that brings together flamenco singer Diego el Cigala with Bebo Valdés on piano, an unprecedented fusion of Jazz and Flamenco in which both artists gave their best. After its publication in 2003 it became an international success recognized with a Grammy, three Premios de la Música, one Premios Ondas Award, five Premios Amigo Awards, three Platinum Records in Spain and one in Argentina, Mexico, and Venezuela. The New York Times newspaper praises it as Best album of the year in the Latin music section and opens the doors to a tour through, among others, Paris, New York, London, La Habana, Buenos Aires, Tokyo, Mexico City, Madrid, and Barcelona. By the end of 2004 the album had sold more than 700,000 copies worldwide.

At age 92, Bebo Valdés continues to be recognized as one of the great living figures of international music. His album Lágrimas Negras with flamenco singer Diego el Cigala, has once again placed the Cuban pianist in the spotlight. Lágrimas Negras is a worldwide success and is published throughout the world, winning a Latin Grammy. One of Bebo's latest projects was his participation in Fernando Trueba's latest film titled: "El Milagro de Candeal," a film that tells, among many other things, the story of Bebo Valdés' trip to Salvador de Bahía (Brazil) to reconnect with his African origins.

He now lives retired in Benalmádena, a town in the province of Málaga, Spain. As a curiosity, he is a neighbor of Amparo Calvo Echeverría, a writer from this town (but born in Huesca), who has written the book Con una taza de café.

Awards: 2 Grammys, 3 Premios de la Música, 1 Premios Ondas Award, and 5 Premios Amigo Awards
Discography: Bebo Rides Again, El Arte del Sabor, Lágrimas negras

Bebo Valdés died in Stockholm, Sweden at age 94 on March 22, 2013