Chucho Valdés releases «UNCUT», his first solo-piano album in 20 years, ahead of turning 85

Foto: InnerJazz / Grateful Web (UNCUT album artwork)

September 17, 2026

Cuban pianist Chucho Valdés releases UNCUT on September 18, 2026, his first solo-piano studio album in 20 years and a project timed three weeks before his 85th birthday on October 9. The eight-track record, issued by InnerJazz / InnerCat Music Group, was captured as one continuous performance with no post-session edits: every note, pause and harmonic turn remains as it happened in the room.

Born in Quivicán on October 9, 1941, and best known as the founder of Irakere, Valdés has led more than 90 albums, authored hundreds of works and collected multiple GRAMMY and Latin GRAMMY honors. His previous solo-piano statement, Cancionero Cubano, arrived two decades earlier; UNCUT returns him to the most exposed setting of his instrument.

The release opens a birthday season that already included Blue Note Los Angeles dates and continues October 3 at Miami's Adrienne Arsht Center with guests Joe Lovano and Terence Blanchard, followed by October 16–17 concerts at Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York.

Fuente: Grateful Web; Cuba on Record; InnerJazz

Dionisio Jesús Valdés Rodríguez

Pianist, Musician, Composer, Director, Music, Society

Pianist, organist, composer and instrumentalist, Chucho Valdés is considered one of the best pianists in the world and certainly the most important jazz figure currently in Cuba. Chucho was born in Alquízar, current province of Mayabeque. From childhood he began playing piano guided by his father, also pianist, Bebo Valdés, and at age 14 he began his professional activity in the orchestra Sabor de Cuba, directed by his father.