1.-Son Montuno (un son de Chucho),
2.-Lorraine (una balada chá, también de Chucho y dedicada
a Lorraine Gordon, la dueña del jazz club Village Vanguard de Nueva York),       play
3.-But Not For Me (un mambojazz de George Gershwin),                             play
4.-Con Poco Coco (una descarga del legendario pianista Ramón "Bebo" Valdés, padre de Chucho),
5.-El Cumbanchero (una guaracha del puertorriqueño Rafael Hernández),
6.-Tres Lindas Cubanas (un danzón de Guillermo Castilo),
7.-La Sitiera (una guajira de Rafael López)
8.-Los Camínos (un guaguancó de Pablo Milanés).

Personnel:
Jesus "Chucho" Valdes (piano);
Alain Perez (vocals, acoustic bass);
Raul Pineda Roque (drums);
Roberto Vizcaino Guillot (percussion).

Chucho Valdés (ur. 9 października 1941 w Quivicán, Kuba) - kubański pianista, bandleader, kompozytor i aranżer. Jest synem słynnego Bebo Valdésa, także pianisty, szefa muzycznego słynnego hawańskiego klubu Tropicana. Chucho rozpoczął naukę gry na fortepianie w wieku trzech lat. W wieku 16 lat kierował już własnym zespołem. W 1967 znalazł się w Orquestra Cubana de Música Moderna, a w 1973 założył Irakere. Obok pracy w dużych zespołach praktykował także grę w małych zespołach typu combo i grę solową. Nagrał 31 płyt, spośród których 5 zdobyło nagrodę Grammy.

BELE BELE EN LA HABANA was nominated for a 1999 Grammy for Best Latin Jazz Performance.

His two decades of success as leader, main composer, and arranger of the supercharged Cuban jazz fusion group Irakere have often obscured the talents of Jesus "Chucho" Valdés as a pianist. Now Valdés seems ready, indeed eager, to take his playing center stage. Bele Bele en la Habana, recorded in Toronto early in 1998, features Valdés with a stripped-down quartet playing a program of originals and Cuban standards. It's an impressive show. With sure technique, Valdés seamlessly blends elements of jazz (postbop phrasing and rich harmonies reminiscent of Bill Evans), classical, and Afro-Cuban music. He offers high energy and lyricism ("Son Montuno"), an implacable groove ("Con Poco Coco," "La Sitiera," "But Not for Me"), and even a dash of melodrama now and then (the classic "Tres Lindas Cubanas"). Irakere might have lost their leader, but jazz has gained a superior pianist. --Fernando Gonzalez

Hurricane Chucho, a much-revered maestro in Havana, president of the Havana Jazz Festival and the embodiment of modern Cuban jazz piano, is better represented by this date than he has ever been. The music fairly leaps from your speakers, piano and rhythms grabbing you forcefully by the sensibilities and compelling you towards a journey that is equal parts dazzling and delightful. –Jazz Times

Issued just after his landmark two-week June 1998 gig at the Village Vanguard and subsequent U.S./Canada tour, Chucho Valdés' first album for Blue Note bears out a lot of the hype surrounding this hugely gifted Cuban pianist. Unlike many of today's younger Cuban keyboard hotshots, Valdés not only has great technical chops and musical erudition, he manages to stay closely tied to his Cuban rhythmic roots. Thus, he employs a Cuban percussionist Roberto Vizcaino Guillot along with the standard bass (Alain Pérez Rodriguez) and drums (Raúl Píńeda Roque), which dramatically increases the possibilities for rhythmic experiments. Valdés more often than not is all over the keyboard, comfortable with everything from Ravel-ian classical complexity to Bill Evans' introspection to Cecil Taylor-like crunches. But there are surprisingly few wasted motions; all of the notes fit. He creates tremendous excitement on "Con Poco Loco" (which ends with a sly steal from "Giant Steps"), and suddenly breaks into a cornucopia of European stream-of-consciousness fireworks before returning to Cuba on "Son Montuno." However, the best moments on Bele Bele en La Habana come when Valdés hooks his fire-eating technique into the groove and doesn't let go. "El Cumbanchero" contains some sudden rhythmic shifts that will have you leaping out of your chair, and "Tres Lindas Cubanas" gradually builds a great head of steam. This CD will give you a much better idea of Valdés' pianistic capabilities than any of his records with Irakere. On a political level, it is interesting and disheartening to note that Valdés recorded this album in Toronto under the auspices of EMI Music Canada; a direct signing with Blue Note would have exposed the American company to charges of trading with the enemy. Obviously, as of 1998, the Cold War was not completely over. ~ Richard S. Ginell

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01 Anabis
02 Son XXI (Para Pia)
03 Punto Cubano
04 My Funny Valentine
05 To Bud Powell
06 Drume Negrita		play
07 Como Traigo La Yuca
08 Ponle La Clave
09 Encore - Lorraine’s Habanera

Line-Up:
Chucho Valdés - piano
Francisco Rubio Pampín - Bass
Raul Pineda Roque - trap drums
Roberto Vizcaino Guillot - conga , bata drums
Mayra Caridad Valdés - Vocals.

Recorded live at the Village Vanguard, New York, New York on April 9 & 10, 1999.

LIVE AT THE VILLAGE VANGUARD won the 2001 Grammy Award for Best Latin Jazz Album.

If Blue Note's alert microphones were present at Chucho Valdés's historic 1998 debut at the hallowed Village Vanguard, the results haven't officially landed in our CD machines yet. But the mikes were there, alright, the following year -- and they caught some virulent Cuban tempests (as the announcer warns, accurately, "There's a hurricane approaching from the Caribbean"). Yet the heat was turned up so much on Valdés's previous studio albums that the presence of a live audience only increases the temperature slightly here. Once again, Valdés's command of the keyboard is so technically staggering as to be stupefying, and he liberally throws in quotes from just about everything he ever absorbed -- from Chopin and Debussy to the Gershwins, Cecil Taylor and avant-garde strumming of the piano strings. He has so powerful an individual identity that "To Bud Powell" is more about Chucho than the late bop pianist. Yet the best, most fun track on the CD, "Punto Cubano," gives credence to the old saw about less being more. Built mostly around a simple tonic-dominant vamp; it has a Jarrett-like directness of melody and irresistible swing, though Chucho still isn't loath to turn on the big guns when desired. The long-running rhythm section of Francisco Rubio Pampin (bass), Raúl Pineda Roque (drums), and Roberto Vizcaino Guillót (congas), keeps Chucho all stoked up and steaming throughout the set. Also Valdés's sister, Mayra Caridad, lends a husky Miriam Makeba-sized voice to the not-so-peaceful lullaby "Drume Negrita." This is yet another excellent addition to the distinguished line of eventful Village Vanguard live sessions, brought to you through the politically neutral resources of EMI Music Canada. ~ Richard S. Ginell.

This beautifully mixed sampling from the Cuban pianist's celebrated 1999 New York engagement with his quartet displays both Valdis' keyboard virtuosity and his mastery of Latin jazz. Each song is a universe, spanning the entire range of human emotions. On the jazzy "Ponle La Clave," Valdis and percussionist Robert Vizcaino Guillst vie gracefully for harmonic control. "Como Traigo La Yuca" stays loyal to the Cuban son, with Valdis mamboing over the keyboard as his right hand evanesces into chromatic doodles. "Punto Cubano" is constructed like a symphony, welding two main themes together with bluesy intermezzos. The standard "My Funny Valentine" is reconfigured as a sweetly poignant danzsn, with Francisco Rubio Pampin playing a lyrical bass. The slinky, Arabic-flavored "Son XXI" ripples so richly that it sounds as if Valdis is playing two pianos at once, while the languorous "Drume Negrita" is sung with enormous soul by Chucho's sister, the throaty alto Mayra Caridad Valdis. ---Rhythm Magazine

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