"JUNTOS PARA SIEMPRE" MEJOR ALBUM DE LATIN JAZZ - GRAMMY AWARDS 2010

El premio Grammy por "Juntos para siempre" es el más especial de los que Chucho Valdés ha ganado, pues se trata del primer disco que graba con su padre Bebo, un disco con el que además cumplió un sueño de su abuela, dijo el pianista cubano.

Y al aceptar su estatuilla al mejor álbum de latin jazz, Valdés le dedicó el domingo el gramófono dorado a la progenitora de su padre.

"Uff, mi corazón", dijo Valdés en inglés evidentemente emocionado. "Muchas gracias. A nombre de mi padre, Bebo, y mío. Dedico este premio a mi abuela Caridad".

Luego, entre bambalinas, el músico agregó en español: "Es el más especial de todos ... Es un tributo a nuestra propia familia porque era sueño de mi abuela, la mamá de Bebo, de vernos un día juntos tocar, por eso ha sido tan especial. Por haber tocado con mi papá, con mi profesor, y porque mi familia va a estar muy orgullosa de eso".

Padre e hijo, ambos pianistas, recién grabaron un disco juntos porque cada uno estaba enfocado con sus propios proyectos, explicó Valdés.

Inicialmente, en los años 70, Chucho estuvo ocupado con la banda de latin jazz Irakere y luego con su cuarteto Blue Note. Irakere, donde tocó con Paquito D'Rivera y Arturo Sandoval, ganó en 1979 un Grammy por un disco homónimo convirtiéndose en la primera agrupación cubana en ganar este premio.

En tanto, Bebo estuvo enfocado en proyectos locales en Suecia hasta que despegó con "Lágrimas Negras", con el cantante de flamenco Diego El Cigala, con lo que ganó el Latin Grammy en el 2004. Luego fue resaltado en el documental "Calle 54".

"Estábamos por caminos paralelos y decidimos hacer un disco juntos, hacer lo que siempre hacíamos en casa, cuando estábamos practicando, cuando él me estaba enseñando, cuando estábamos estudiando juntos", explicó Valdés hijo. "Y el disco fue una cosa que salió muy espontánea, fue un disco que nos sentamos al piano y empezamos a tocar, a tocar, a tocar. Primera toma, primera toma. Y todo salió como en casa exactamente".

Este es el tercer Grammy para Bebo, de 91 años, y el cuarto para Chucho, de 68. Ambos nacieron el mismo día, 9 de octubre, con 23 años de diferencia. El padre tiene cinco Latin Grammy; el hijo dos.

Nominados en la categoría Mejor Album de Latin Jazz:

'Things I Wanted To Do' - Chembo Corniel
'Áurea' - Geoffrey Keezer
'Brazilliance X 4' - Claudio Roditi
'Juntos Para Siempre' - Bebo Valdés y Chucho Valdés -- Ganador!
'Esta Plena' - Miguel Zenón

LATIN JAZZ: A LEGITIMATE AMERICAN MUSIC

By Bobby Matos, Well-informed historians and critics have stated that they believe jazz is America's only art form or its most important art form. Obviously, to music scholars and experts, most pop music derives from jazz, including R&B, rock, hiphop and other subgenres.

One of jazz music's most important styles, however, is often ignored or not acknowledged to be a part of jazz. Latin jazz, originally called AfroCuban jazz, is often perceived as being a foreign entity and is often denigrated. In Ken Burns' documentary Jazz, it is only briefly mentioned. The truth demands a more complex reference.

Going back to the beginnings of jazz, let's remember that New Orleans was a port, a part of trade routes that included many of the Caribbean islands since the early Spanish and French colonizations. Comparisons of early Ragtime music from New Orleans with early Danzon music (a 19th century creolization of the English and French country dance, fusing elements of European chamber music with an Africanized rhythm on the tympani) from Cuba reveal many similarities, especially in the use of AfroCaribbean rhythms. Early jazz and blues pioneers, like WC Handy and Fats Waller, acknowledged what they called "the Spanish Tinge.

" During World War I, famed African-American bandleader James Reese Europe led large orchestras as part of the US Army's elite black unit "The Hell Fighters" in Europe and at home. They played both martial and jazzier music and recruited many musicians from Puerto Rico (a US possession), including many who became known as major innovators in both the Latin and jazz idioms. Rafael Hernandez won fame as the composer of many Latin tunes including "Lamento Borincano" while trombonist Juan Tizol is famous as a collaborator of Duke Ellington and the composer of "Perdido" and "Caravan."

By the '30s, much Latin music was being heard in the US, including Argentinean Tango, Brazilian Samba and Cuban Rumba and Son (an AfroCuban song form from Oriente, Cuba). One famous Cuban Son Pregon (a street vendor's musical cry advertising his wares), "El Manicero," became a huge international hit in 1930 under its American title "The Peanut Vendor," played by everyone including jazz master Louis Armstrong. This song inspired a so-called 'Rhumba' craze though 'Rhumba,' spelled with 'h,' was really a watered-down, over-orchestrated version of the Son and, in reality, has no resemblance to the virile percussive AfroCuban 'Rumbas.' This popularity inspired a young AfroCuban musician to try his hand finding work in the US. Mario Bauza was originally a classically-trained clarinetist and alto saxophonist, a former child prodigy, who realized that Cuba and its highly segregated classical music scene had no place for a black musician, no matter how talented. After arriving in New York and initially finding work playing with Latin dance bands, Bauza taught himself to play trumpet to take advantage of recording opportunities. He discovered the world of swing bands and was soon playing with the renowned Chick Webb Orchestra.

Bauza absorbed the essence of the Swing musical style, the jazzy and bluesy phrasing and the use of brass and reed sections playing counterpoint to each other to create rhythmic tension. Later he joined the orchestra of popular cultural icon Cab Calloway, where he met a talented young trumpet player who became a lifelong friend—John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie. Then Bauza gave up the security of working with popular bands to do something startling.

Frank "Machito" Grillo was Mario's brother-in-law and a childhood friend, known as a singer and a maracas player in Cuba. He mentioned to Bauza that he was coming to New York and Bauza replied that he would create an orchestra especially for him. Copying the unique swing style of brass and reed section counterpoint and combining it with truly authentic AfroCuban rhythms, Machito and his AfroCubans (a revolutionary name for a revolutionary orchestra) was formed at the beginning of the '40s.

Much less commercial than the popular Latin dance bands catering to mainstream white America, the band at first struggled for its existence but Bauza persisted, adding many jazz musicians and concepts. The combination of authentic AfroCuban rhythms with swing horn section writing was a new concept that became the standard in later years. Inspired by his talented musicians and his vast experience, Bauza composed a song called "Tanga" in 1943. This moment in time has been generally recognized as the beginnings of 'Latin jazz' (although Bauza always preferred the term 'AfroCuban jazz') and "Tanga" is known as the first AfroCuban jazz composition.

Machito's music influenced many of the Latin bandleaders that followed and many American musicians as well. Charlie Parker, Buddy Rich and Flip Phillips recorded with the Machito Orchestra. Dizzy Gillespie consulted with Mario and Machito when he was looking for a conga drummer for his own AfroCuban jazz (or Cubop) experiments. Machito and Mario suggested Chano Pozo to Dizzy and history was made again. Stan Kenton openly stated his affection for the orchestra and he named one of his compositions "Machito." Tito Puente, who played with Machito as a youngster, often said that his mentors were Mario and Machito. In later years, jazz musicians like Dexter Gordon, Cannonball Adderley, Herbie Mann and Johnny Griffin performed and recorded with Machito. Leonard Bernstein even used Machito's music as an example of real jazz on his famous television broadcasts in the '50s.

US Latin jazz continued to develop throughout the '50s-60s with stellar contributions from Kenton, George Shearing, Cal Tjader, Jack Costanzo, Herbie Mann, Tito Puente, Pucho & the Latin Soul Brothers, Sabu Martinez, Hugo Dickens, Mongo Santamaria, Willie Bobo, Chick Corea, Chico O'Farrill, Lalo Schifrin and more. In recent years, North American Latin jazz has produced artists like Poncho Sanchez, Jerry Gonzalez, Papo Vasquez, Hilton Ruiz, Arturo O'Farrill, Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Danilo Perez and countless others. All these musicians have contributed their personalized unique vision to the further development of North American Latin jazz.

All About Jazz - Bobby Matos