Chucho Valdés and the Afro-Cuban Messengers: Chucho's Steps – review

(World Village)This year, on a visit to Ronnie Scott's, the great Cuban pianist and bandleader Chucho Valdés seemed too big for the room. He rocketed through jazz piano history, with classical music and Duke Ellington flicks and hints, and a balance of formidable technique and instant recall for tunes that rivalled that of Sonny Rollins. Valdés hasn't called his band the Afro-Cuban Messengers for nothing: it joins much of the hard-boppish crispness and percussive punch of Art Blakey's legendar...

Read full article Share article