Chucho Valdés returned to Miami to present "Cuba & Beyond"

February 8, 2025

The most recent album by the founder of Irakere was presented at the Knight Concert Hall, one of the concert halls of the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts, with a capacity of more than 2,000 spectators and exceptional acoustics.

One of the living legends of world jazz, Cuban Jesús Chucho Valdés, returned to the city of Miami on February 7 to present his most recent album Cuba & Beyond. Considered the dean of Latin Afrojazz and named Jazz Master 2025 by the National Endowment for the Arts of the United States, Valdés performed with his band at the Miami arts center Adrienne Arsht.

The album Cuba & Beyond is a work that was nominated for a 2025 Grammy Award as Best Latin Jazz Album, along with his quartet, also made up of Horacio El negro Hernández (drums), José Armando Gola (bass) and Roberto Vizcaíno Jr. (percussion).

"This ensemble of virtuosos embodies the essence of Afro-Cuban jazz, infusing elements of blues, funk, classical music and African traditions into a distinctive sound," notes the press release quoted by the Spanish agency EFE.

The presentation marks Valdés's return to the Arsht, a venue where he has achieved milestones in his career, such as the 2024 reunion concert of some founders of Irakere, on the fiftieth anniversary of their first performance in Havana, and the premiere of his suite La Creación in 2021.

Chucho Valdés and his Royal Quartet performed at the Knight Concert Hall, one of the concert halls of the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts in Miami, with a capacity of 2,200 spectators and exceptional acoustics.

The performance is part of the Jazz Roots series, which celebrates the depth and diversity of jazz as a global genre, a statement from the institution detailed this Monday.

Son of Bebo Valdés (1918-2013), an iconic jazz pianist, in 2024 Chucho, now 83 years old, marked six decades since he recorded his first studio album, Jazz nocturno (1964), at the age of 22.

Winner of seven Grammy Awards, five Latin Grammy Awards and a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, Chucho Valdés has always championed "an evolutionary sound that pays homage to the golden age of Cuban music while elevating it toward the future," the statement adds.