Chucho Valdes & Irakere at The Rio Theatre

About

Chucho Valdés is a living icon of Cuban music and an eight-time Grammy award-winner. A pianist, composer/arranger, and bandleader, Valdés co-founded Irakere, Cuba’s first “supergroup.” The legacy of Irakere represents a brilliant milestone of innovative achievement. With a mélange of Afro-Cuban dance rhythms, jazz improvisation, and brief incursions into the classical world, Irakere blended folkloric and modern instrumentation together, ingeniously linking Cuba’s past to contemporary music. Chucho’s Project 2015 reincarnates the spirit of Irakere’s music with a new generation of Cuban virtuosos with a playlist that pulls from four decades of groundbreaking and often awe-inspiring music.