Cuban composer and pianist Chucho Valdés, a living legend of Afro-Cuban music, returns to Mallorca where he will present his latest album Cuba & Beyond, nominated for the 2025 Grammy Awards, and will recall his best-known songs.
Seven-time Grammy Award winner and six-time Latin Grammy Award winner, Chucho Valdés has great international recognition for his masterful way of fusing elements of the Afro-Cuban musical tradition, jazz, classical music and rock, with an intensely personal style.
In his renowned musical career of more than 60 years, he has received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Latin Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, is a member of the Latin Songwriters Hall of Fame and, recently, winner of the NEA Jazz Masters 2025 distinction, the highest recognition that a jazz musician can have in the United States.
Dionisio Jesús 'Chucho' Valdés Rodríguez was born into a family of musicians in Quivicán, in the province of Havana in 1941. His first teacher and greatest influence was his father, the pianist, composer and conductor, Ramón 'Bebo' Valdés.
He became known worldwide as the founder, main composer and arranger of the group Irakere (1973-2005), which he founded with Paquito D'Rivera. The most recent was La Creación, which he created to celebrate his 80th birthday, in 2021. It is a three-movement suite, for small ensemble, voices and big band, which tells the story of creation according to the Regla de Ocha, the Afro-Cuban religion.
His latest album, Cuba & Beyond (InnerJazz), includes songs such as Tatomania, Mozart a la Cubana and Armando's Rhumba, a tribute to the pianist and lifelong friend, Chick Corea.
