Chucho Valdés: The Creation

Chucho Valdés

The Creation

with the Yoruban Orchestra

Hilario Durán & John Beasley, Musical Directors

The Creation, the newest project of pianist, composer, and arranger Chucho Valdés, deploys the legend’s formidable compositional talents to take audiences through the Regla de Ocha story of creation, from the Afro-Cuban religious practice Santería. A multi-movement suite, La Creación is Chucho’s latest new work for Afro-Cuban big band, with added percussion and vocals.

Elements of the Santería religion and other Yoruba influences have inspired Valdés for decades, and he has returned to these cultural touchstones throughout the many phases of his storied career, from the big band Irakere to the original and re-launched Jazz Batá trio. This evening-length suite is a chance to hear the full expression of a legend’s engagement with these powerful cultural ritual elements, and to explore how Valdés has woven his cultural heritage throughout his extraordinary career.

In this new work, Valdés and his Yoruban Orchestra employ a sonic palette that includes elements of Santería ritual music, African music, the blues, and what he describes as “an atmosphere in the style of Miles Davis’ Bitches Brew.”