Ernán López-Nussa Lekszycki

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An essential Latin American pianist of recent times, he labels and draws the sound of a country that expresses itself and is nourished by music.

Without his piano, the history of the fusion that this continent projects onto Europe and the United States should not be narrated. His presentations throughout all these routes confirm it.

The foundation of his sound consists of the ensemble of a refined academy toned with Cuban accent and the styles and rhythmic elements of his elegant pianism. The touch of a musician is not learned, it is polished and educated. Ernán brought in his blood an evident dose of virtuosity that even today he nourishes with studies, experiences, and remnants of jazz.

The dances and standards, his compositions and improvisations are unique pieces that urbanize the echo of the city that shelters him: Havana. His French origin has been diluted in the vivid Afro-Cuban sap of the restless adolescent born on a black and white island. An impossible mixture to ignore in his melodic visitations.

Ernán López-Nussa is one of those pianists who does not lie in interpretation. His transparency and sincerity, far from ephemeral showiness, has made him a contemporary classic that recalls the authentic days when music was only for legitimate seekers of gems in Jazz.

Founder of the Afrocuba group, he is an artist who has ventured into different genres, with special emphasis on Jazz.

He began his studies at the Alejandro García Caturla Conservatory, with María Emma Boudet, continued them at the Amadeo Roldán Conservatory with Vivian Lamata and César López, and concluded them at the Instituto Superior de Arte with Jorge Gómez Labraña.

Since childhood he listened to Count Basie, Miles Davis with Winston Kelly as pianist; later to King Oliver, Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, Al Haig, Red Garland (one of his favorites), Art Tatum, whom in his judgment, "is so, so much what he plays, he has the same impressive agility as a perfect touch. He is the great virtuoso, a simplicity, a swing, a sweetness, an honesty [...]. When all those things come together, something great is produced."

The quartet Los Zafiros, Los Van Van, the Orquesta Cubana de Música Moderna did not escape his interest, and among Cuban pianists, Frank Emilio and Emiliano Salvador, of whom he believes that "they form a similar school in the treatment of sound, of rhythm, of the incorporation of piano into the rhythmic."

He began his artistic career as a member of the Afrocuba group, 1977, which disbanded in 1980, and reformed in 1981, a period in which they worked with Silvio Rodríguez, who said of Ernán: "One of the things that moves me most about Ernán López-Nussa is how the singular and the gregarious are suited in him. He is as capable of the most street-level exquisiteness as of the most elaborate everyday quality."

Later he was part of Cuarto Espacio and the Síntesis group. Around 1993 he founded another quartet, composed of Inor Sotolongo, percussion and voice; Jorge Alexander (Sagua), electric bass, and Ramsés Rodríguez, drums, with which he participated in the Jazz Plaza Festival that year.

On how he comes to be a popular music performer, López-Nussa expresses: "... I always say that rumba calls; also, I believe in life's chances and the ways you become impregnated with things. For various reasons I was dedicating — not in study hours, but in my mind — more time to popular music. Many times I have asked myself what would have become of me or how I would have felt directing my career only toward concert music. I never know the answer. What I do feel is great pleasure when I give a concert with classical repertoire, but not more satisfaction than when I play jazz or Cuban music."

Regarding concert music and its difference with jazz at the moment of interpretation, López-Nussa says, in an interview with Jaime Sarusky: "Jazz has for me something different, and in a certain way superior, to concert music. It is that you don't have to be a composer to be creating and creating and creating. It doesn't mean that concert music is not creative. There lies the challenge of concert music [...].

And elsewhere he clarifies: "in jazz you have the possibility of composing, if you have that virtue. But if you don't keep up with what is happening with all the transformations that occur, then you fall behind. You have to be aware, constantly, of what is happening to be able to interpret, to go with your time. Even interpreting bebop, cool jazz, etc. In that sense, it requires a lot of study and updating. And, of course, also a lot of technical study. Not as much as concert music, which requires more attention, more discipline when studying. It's that they are different orders."

In his album From Havana to Rio, percussionists Arístides Soto (Tata Güines), Pancho Terry, and Emilio del Monte Jr. participated. About why his preference for privileging percussion, Ernán expresses: "It has to do with my way of feeling jazz. All my music tells a story, in the sense that it follows certain lines of development, and the talented percussionists I have worked with understand it perfectly [...].

He has performed with Arístides Soto (Tata Güines), Miguel Aurelio Díaz (Angá), José Luis Quintana (Changuito), Jorge Reyes, César López, Alexander Brown, Pancho Terry, Elena Burke, Alina Sánchez, and the Camerata Romeu. He obtained, at Cubadisco 2000, for Delirium, the Award in the Latin Jazz category; at Cubadisco 2002, for From Havana to Rio, Award in the Latin Jazz category, Award in Production and Grand Prize.

Compositions
Amen
Archipelago
Blues de Marieta (inspired by Marieta, by Faustino Oramas, El Guayabero)
Mist in Autumn
This Has No Name
Figurations
End of the Dance
Island
Lobos'cha (inspired by Bachianas Brasileiras No. 5 by Brazilian composer Heitor Villa-Lobos)
Polkandson
Rumba for Tap Dancing
Haydn
My Land
Vignette

Curriculum
• 1977
- Founds the AFROCUBA Band, an important group of Cuban music and Jazz, conducting important tours throughout Latin America and Europe. Records 5 full-length albums and works alongside Cuban singer-songwriter SILVIO RODRÍGUEZ.

• 1982
- Finalist in the International Piano Competition "Teresa Carreño" in Caracas, Venezuela.
- First Prize in the Piano Competition of the Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba.

• 1983
- First Prize in the Piano Competition of the Instituto Superior de Arte of Cuba.

• 1984
- Graduates with a Bachelor's degree in Music from the Instituto Superior de Arte of Havana, specializing in Piano.

• 1989
- Founds the CUARTO ESPACIO group. Participates in several International Jazz Festivals in Latin America. Records a CD with the German label INTUITION.

• 1992
- Founds his CUBAN QUARTET with which he returns to acoustic instruments to perform jazz music with a strong presence of Cuban popular music.

• 1993
- Obtains First Prize in Composition with the work LOBOS´CHA at the Martinique Jazz Festival.

• 1993
- Records the album FIGURATIONS, Havana. Cuba.
- Conducts tours through various cities in Europe and America.
- Participates in Jazz Festivals in Jamaica, Martinique, Copenhagen, Aarhus (Denmark).

• 1995
- Named Cultural Ambassador of Good Will for UNICEF.

• 1996
- Participates in the International Cervantino Festival in Mexico.

• 1997
- Fujiyama Jazz Festival, Japan. International Jazz Festival, Martinique. Solo Piano Concerts in Tegucigalpa, Honduras.

• 1998
- Records CD "Delirium" for HANSHIN ENTERTAINMENT- BMG Japan.

• 1999
- Tours Blue Note Clubs in Japan: Osaka, Tokyo, and Fukuoka. Records CD "Live, Blue Note Osaka".
- Tours accompanying Silvio Rodríguez and Luis Eduardo Aute through 9 Spanish cities.

• 2000
- Founds and directs the artistic project HABANA REPORT alongside legendary figures of Cuban popular music: Tata Güines, Changuito, Richard Egües, Jorge Reyes, and Pancho Terry, among others.
- HEINEKEN Festival Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Recording of CD FROM HAVANA TO RIO.

• 2001
- Tours in Spain: Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, and Zaragoza. Launch of CD HABANA REPORT with LOLA RECORDS label.
- Production of CD HABANA REPORT/ Havana, Cuba.

• 2002
- Presentations with HABANA REPORT in different Caribbean Islands: Barbados, Martinique, Saint Martin, Dominican Republic.
- Tour in Quartet Festival of Vancouver, Canada.

• 2003
- Presentations in São Paulo Brazil, with Brazilian musicians.
- With HABANA REPORT Spain Jazz Festival, City of Toledo. Presentations on Calle 54 Madrid at the presentation of CD Habana Report.
- Quintet Presentations at the Vancouver Festival, Canada.
- Records the music for the Cuban film "Roble de Olor" by Director Rigoberto López alongside Guitarist and composer Sergio Vitier.

• 2004
- Solo Piano Concert at the Olympia in Paris, sharing the stage with Omara Portuondo and her group.
- Festival de Coutance, France, in Trio format.
- Concert in Trio at New Morning, Paris.
- Produces new CD "Mano de obra" as Solo Piano at Abdala Studios, Havana.

• 2005
- Composes original music for the National Ballet of Santo Domingo.
- Concert in TRIO at the Amira de la Rosa Theater, during Barranquijazz, Colombia.
- Concert at Casa Teatro in Santo Domingo. Dominican Republic.
- Summer Jazz Festival, Sabatini Gardens in Madrid, in TRIO.
- Montreux Festival, Switzerland, in TRIO.

• 2006
- November / Jazz Festival in Sardinia, Italy.
- December / Madrid Jazz Festival, Spain.
- December / Artistic tour through Denmark.
- Music producer for Harold López-Nussa's album with COLIBRÍ Label, Havana, Cuba.

• 2007
- Together with Omara Portuondo and Swami (Brazilian guitarist) they formed a TRIO to offer presentations in Austria and Spain.
- Produces DVD with COLIBRI Label "PAS DE TROI", Live from K. Marx Theater.
- Composes the music for the FILM "La noche de los inocentes", by Cuban filmmaker Arturo Soto.
- Presentations at AJAZZGO, International Jazz Festival in Cali, Colombia.