Chucho Valdés and The Afro-Cuban Messengers

To experience Jesús “Chucho” Valdés in concert is to enjoy an audience with a whirlwind, as some of the most virtuosic piano playing in jazz history meets an ever-surprising array of rhythms, tempi, and global influences—Afro-Cuban, hard bop, European classical, and more. The founder of the legendary Cuban jazz ensemble Irakere, Valdés won a 2011 Grammy for his CD with his new Afro-Cuban Messengers, Chucho’s Steps, which All About Jazz called “a force of nature [whose] vigor bursts out of the speakers and sweeps everything away before it.” This concert generously supported by Fred and Stephanie Harman and by KCSM Jazz 91. Part of the Koret Jazz Project.