Miguel Ángel Eugenio Lázaro Zacarías Izquierdo Valdés

Miguel Ángel Valdés. He was an interpreter of Cuban music, singer, composer and Cuban percussionist, popularly known as Miguelito Valdés, but whose real name was Miguel Ángel Eugenio Lázaro Zacarías Izquierdo Valdés.

He was very popular for decades in Latin America and the United States, where he is also known as "Mister Babalú".

He was born in La Habana, specifically in the Belén neighborhood, of Spanish father and Yucatecan mother, although from childhood the family settled in another of the capital's neighborhoods with the highest concentration of poor people: Cayo Hueso.

At thirteen years old he worked as an automobile mechanic, while trying to be a boxer, musician, although he did fight in 1923 as a welterweight, affiliated with the Cuban federation of that sport, very soon the passion for music would triumph over any other concern.

One of his first idols in music was Mexican singer José Mojica, a tenor famous in those years in Cuba.

He also sang, years later he joined the Sexteto Jóvenes del Cayo, as a singer and from that moment on he began to describe an intense career that would relate him successively with numerous musical groups in the country.

In 1927 he joined the Sexteto Habanero Juvenil as a singer, but as needed, he played different instruments, such as guitar, tres, double bass and maracas.

In 1929, with his mother's financial support, he studied guitar with Sol Feggio and became associated with trovadora María Teresa Vera. With María Teresa's Sexteto Occidente he worked sporadically in the dance academies Sport Antillano, Rialto and Havana Sport, as a backup vocalist.

He also worked, in his early years in music, with the charangas of Ismael Díaz, the Gris orchestra of Armando Valdés Torres, and La Habana of Estanislao Serviá.

In 1933 he traveled to Panama to perform in the carnivals with a musical group formed for the occasion. Once the contract ended he remained working in the El Moderno Cubano restaurant.

He performed for a season with the orchestra of Panamanian Lucho Azcárraga, with which he managed to make himself known in several Panamanian venues and was able to afford to return to Cuba in 1936.

In La Habana, he joined the Orquesta Hermanos Castro, one of the most sought-after Cuban jazz bands of the era.

In 1937, along with nine musicians from that group, he participated in the founding of the cooperative-style orchestra Orquesta Casino de la Playa, which took the name of the exclusive nightclub that hired them in exchange for adopting the name.

The first director was violinist Guillermo Portela and on piano was Anselmo Sacasas, who wrote the arrangements that quickly defined the band's style, the most versatile and dynamic of the era.

All the musicians in the orchestra were white (as was usual in most Cuban jazz bands of the era, by requirement of the directors of the venues where they performed), except for its main attraction: the mulatto Miguelito Valdés.

They made their first recordings for RCA Víctor in June 1937, including Bruca maniguá, by Arsenio Rodríguez, which became one of the pieces he would sing throughout his career.

In this first recording session the bolero-son Dolor cobarde was recorded, his first composition released on record. In April 1938 the orchestra recorded, also of his authorship, the congas Mi comparsa and Los componedores, the musical theme of a popular carnaval parade: "Los componedores de batea".

Other pieces of his that were recorded that year are the guaracha Mi tambó, the bolero Loco de amor and the conga Los venecianos. On February 27, 1939 the orchestra released to record the afro Babalú, by Margarita Lecuona, which would from then on be the Cuban's calling card, who performed it on innumerable occasions.

He was the one who made possible the first recording of the Cuban tres in the son pregón Se va el caramelero, by Arsenio Rodríguez, who made the solo for that instrument.

Working in that orchestra he achieved immense popularity, making the fundamental strains of Cuban music, but above all imposing Afro rhythms, which would become the fundamental mark.

The set of recordings he made between 1937 and early 1940 with Casino de la Playa cemented his popularity inside and outside Cuba, being works demonstrating the scope, versatility and extraordinary gifts as an interpreter, owner of a charismatic and personal style in various genres of Cuban music: bolero, afro, son, rumba, guajira, pregón, conga and songs.

In 1939 he leaves the Casino de la Playa group, with the purpose of going to the United States, before achieving it, in March 1940, he is required to make a recording session by the Havana Riverside orchestra.

In 1940 he makes recordings with other orchestras and groups, such as Havana Riverside, Enrique Bryon's orchestra and the Septeto Nacional.

With Cugat and his orchestra, Miguelito Valdés appeared in the film "You Were Never Lovelier," starring Fred Astaire and Rita Hayworth, released on November 19, 1942. At that time he was performing in nightclubs in New York such as La Martinica, Hollywood Mocambo and La Conga, and performed for seasons with Machito and his Afrocubans, an orchestra with which he made twenty-six recordings for the Decca label.

In April 1943 several members of Machito's orchestra were called to arms to fight in World War II and the Cuban returns to Cuba hired by the magnate of the RHC Cadena Azul station, Amado Trinidad Velazco.

In 1943 he visits Mexico, in November of that year he performed at the Esperanza Iris theater alongside Agustín Lara, la Panchita, Tata Nacho, Mercedes Caraza, Los Calaveras, María Victoria Meche Barba and comedian Tin Tan (Germán Valdés), who made his theatrical debut with that show.

He performed periodically for almost two years at the XEW station, in the El Patio cabaret and participated in several films and musical shorts: Esclavitud, Conga bar – with music by the Grenet brothers –, Estampas habaneras – with Myrta Silva, Sergio Orta and Cecile Abreu –, Mi reino por un torero and Imprudencia (all from 1944, directed by Agustín P. Delgado).

In 1951 he returned to Cuba and recorded for the Seeco label with the Sonora Matancera orchestra.

In 1957 he announced his retirement from the stage, but continued performing on television and made performances in Cuba.

In late April 1940 he left for the United States destined for Fort Lee, New Jersey to fulfill a request from Ben Marden, the owner of the Riviera nightclub, to perform there with the local orchestra.

He directs that band and is accompanied by pianist Anselmo Sacasas, who shortly before the show premiered, was prevented from working due to a protest filed by the American musicians' union, American Federation of Musicians.

This situation aborted the project, which is why the singer moves to New York, where he knew that a large group of Cuban musicians were already concentrated.

There he is hired by the Catalan Xavier Cugat, where he makes his debut on May 12 in the Sert Room of the Waldorf Astoria Hotel, performing with this group in the Paramount Theater in the afternoons, and every night in the Waldorf-Astoria Starlight Roof and the Camel Cigarette Show Rumba Revue. Cugat's orchestra worked six days a week and made recordings once a month.

Between May and June 1940 the Cuban recorded for the first time with the orchestra of the Catalan director, some of the selected pieces were versions of numbers he had popularized shortly before with Casino de la Playa, including Blen blen blen by Chano Pozo, Mis cinco hijos by Osvaldo Farrés and Elube Changó by Alberto Rivera.

In 1941 he made new recordings with Cugat, until he decided at the end of the year to leave the orchestra due to differences with the director, leaving recorded with this group, despite his short stay with it, excellent interpretations of Ecó by Gilberto Valdés, La negra Leonó by Ñico Saquito, Anna Boroco Tinde by Chano Pozo, Los hijos de Buda by Rafael Hernández, Yo tá namorá by Arsenio Rodríguez and Babalú, by Margarita Lecuona, which in the United States had been made known by Desi Arnaz.

With Cugat and the orchestra the Cuban singer appeared in the film "You Were Never Lovelier," starring Fred Astaire and Rita Hayworth, released on November 19, 1942.

At that time he was performing in nightclubs in New York such as La Martinica, Hollywood Mocambo and La Conga, and performed for seasons with Machito and the Afrocubans, an orchestra with which he made twenty-six recordings for the Decca label.

In 1945 he returns to New York, recorded with the orchestra of Puerto Rican pianist Noro Morales a series of excellent numbers. He performed in nightclubs with an orchestra he formed when he obtained contracts in Los Angeles and New York.

In June 1946 he appeared singing on movie screens in the film Suspense, by Frank Tuttle, months later he made possible the arrival to the United States of his great friend, Cuban drummer Luciano Chano Pozo, and of the young singer Olga Guillot, who had just been awarded in Cuba as the best singer of the year. He provided both of them with work and recordings.

In 1948 he organized an orchestra with a big band format that, later on, in performances or even in some recordings, would reduce to ensemble or sextet formats. With the band he recorded, for the SMC label, a tribute to Chano Pozo following his murder in December 1948.

In 1963 he made a long-playing record in Mexico (México, yo te canto) with Mariachi Tenochtitlán. In 1963 he returned to the recording studios with Machito's orchestra and recorded for Tico the album Reunión. He also participated, for the same record label, in Canciones que mamá no me enseñó with Tito Puente's orchestra.

In 1964 he settles in Los Angeles, California, in 1967 he made a record with direction and arrangements by Chico O'Farrill (Inolvidables) for the Verve label.

In the following decade he made numerous recordings in several Latin American countries (Mexico, Brazil, Peru, Colombia, Panama), where he continued performing.

He suffered a heart attack in Mexico in early 1978. He received a tribute at the Roseland Ballroom in New York in May of that year, for more than four decades of artistic career.

He participated in a tour through Puerto Rico with Machito's orchestra, Charlie Palmieri, Johnny Pacheco and Ray Barreto, among others. In October he traveled to Colombia, where he made his last recordings.

As a composer, in addition to the pieces already mentioned, the boleros Ya no alumbra tu estrella, Letargo, Qué tal te va and Dolor cobarde stand out; the conga Las jardineras, the rumbas Yo soy la rumba, Celina, Esa mulata, Rumba rumbero, Sangre son colorá, Oh mi tambó and many others. Much of his extensive recording work has been released in digital format in several countries around the world.

From his youth he maintains an excellent friendship with percussionist Chano Pozo, they knew each other as boys, both living in the Cayo Hueso neighborhood, they would go out dancing together, Chano beating the drum and him singing pieces learned from the elders or making their first inspirations.

Later they never separated, wherever each one went, in fact Chano's departure to the United States, which would be so important for jazz, had much to do with the support of the interpreter of Tabú.

In 1947, shortly after returning from a successful trip to La Habana, Chano arrived in New York, and although later he would become associated with personalities such as Dizzy Gillespie, one of the first groups he worked in was in Miguelito Valdés's own orchestra.

As a composer, in addition to the pieces already mentioned, the boleros Ya no alumbra tu estrella, Letargo, Qué tal te va and Dolor cobarde stand out; the conga Las jardineras, the rumbas Yo soy la rumba, Celina, Esa mulata, Rumba rumbero, Sangre son colorá, Oh mi tambó and many others.

He died on November 8, 1978, during a performance in the Monserrat hall of the Tequendama Hotel in Bogotá, Colombia.