Dionisio Ramón Emilio Valdés Amaro (October 9, 1918 – March 22, 2013), better known as Bebo Valdés, was a Cuban pianist, bandleader, composer and arranger. He was a central figure in the golden age of
Cuban music, especially due to his
big band
A big band or jazz orchestra is a type of musical ensemble of jazz music that usually consists of ten or more musicians with four sections: saxophones, trumpets, trombones, and a rhythm section. Big bands originated during the early 1910s and ...
arrangements and compositions of
mambo,
chachachá and batanga, a genre he created in 1952.
He was the director of the
Radio Mil Diez house band and the
Tropicana Club orchestra, before forming his own big band, Orquesta Sabor de Cuba, in 1957. However, after the end of the
Cuban Revolution, in 1960, Bebo left his family behind and went into exile in Mexico before settling in Sweden, where he remarried. His musical hiatus lasted until 1994, when a collaboration with
Paquito D'Rivera brought him back into the music business.
By the time of his death in 2013, he had recorded several new albums, earning multiple
Grammy Award
The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious ...
s. His son
Chucho Valdés is also a successful pianist and bandleader.
Biography
Early career
Bebo Valdés was born Dionisio Ramón Emilio Valdés Amaro
[ on October 9, 1918, in the village of Quivicán, ]Cuba
Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...
, near Havana. He started his career as a pianist in the nightclubs of Havana during the 1940s. He replaced René Hernández as pianist and arranger in Julio Cueva's band. In October 1946 the band recorded "Rareza del siglo", one of Bebo's most famous mambos.big band
A big band or jazz orchestra is a type of musical ensemble of jazz music that usually consists of ten or more musicians with four sections: saxophones, trumpets, trombones, and a rhythm section. Big bands originated during the early 1910s and ...
format (it was previously performed by charangas as danzón-mambo) during the late 1940s and 1950s, and developed a new rhythm to compete with Perez Prado's mambo, called batanga. The batanga premiered at the Tropicana in 1952, but could not survive the popularity of another new rhythm, the chachachá created by Enrique Jorrín. Valdés was also an important figure in the incipient Afro-Cuban jazz scene in Havana, taking part in sessions commissioned by American producer Norman Granz during 1952.Mexico
Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...
.Stockholm
Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...
, where he lived until 2007. In Sweden he was instrumental in spreading the techniques of Cuban music and Latin jazz.
Career revival
Valdés' career got a late career boost in 1994 when he teamed up with saxophone player Paquito D'Rivera to release a CD called ''Bebo Rides Again''. In 2000, the film '' Calle 54'' by Fernando Trueba brought his piano playing to a wide audience. The film showed the first collaboration between Bebo and his old friend Cachao, with whom he had never recorded before. They collaborated again on '' El Arte del Sabor'', which also features Carlos "Patato" Valdés and guest performances by Paquito D'Rivera. In 2003, Bebo and Diego El Cigala, a famous Spanish ''cantaor'' (flamenco singer), recorded the album '' Lágrimas Negras'' (''Black Tears''), a fusion of Cuban rhythms and flamenco vocals. In 2004, he was again filmed by Trueba, in '' El milagro de Candeal'' in Brazil, and later composed a score for Trueba's 2010 film '' Chico and Rita'', which included bits from his own life. ''Chico and Rita'' ends with the dedication "a Bebo".
During his career, Valdés—one of the founders of Latin jazz, and a pioneer in bringing Afro-Cuban sacred rhythms to popular dance music—won seven Grammy Awards: two for '' El Arte del Sabor'' (2002), one for '' Lágrimas Negras'', and two for ''Bebo de Cuba'' in 2006 (in the categories "Best Traditional Tropical Album" and "Best Latin Jazz Album"). One of his last musical productions was one fittingly recorded with his son: '' Juntos para siempre'' (''Together Forever'' 2008), winner of the Grammy Award
The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious ...
for Best Latin Jazz Album at the 52nd Grammy Awards in 2010;Berklee College of Music
Berklee College of Music () is a Private university, private music college in Boston, Boston, Massachusetts. It is the largest independent college of contemporary music in the world. Known for the study of jazz and modern Music of the United ...
.
Family and death
Valdés was married to Pilar Valdés. This marriage produced five children, one of whom is the pianist Chucho Valdés. In 1963, he stopped in Sweden on a tour with the Lecuona Cuban Boys. There, he met 18-year-old Rose Marie Pehrson,["Yo quiero tocar hasta que me muera"]
'' El País''. Retrieved June 4, 2013. a cavalry officer's daughter. They got married the same year and he settled in Sweden. He described it as the most important moment of his life: "It was like being hit by lightning", he said. "If you meet a woman and you want to change your life you have to choose between love and art". They remained together until her death in 2012.
Valdés was in the middle of the treatment of Alzheimer's disease, which he had suffered for several years, when he died in Stockholm
Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...
, Sweden
Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...
, on March 22, 2013, aged 94.
Discography
Data according to Díaz Ayala.
References
External links
*
Official site of documentary film ''Old Man Bebo''
Flash required
{{DEFAULTSORT:Valdes, Bebo
1918 births
2013 deaths
People from Quivicán
Cuban jazz bandleaders
Cuban jazz pianists
Cuban jazz composers
Cuban male composers
Cuban defectors
Grammy Award winners
Latin Grammy Award winners
20th-century Cuban pianists
Afro-Cuban jazz pianists
Blue Note Records artists
Deaths from dementia in Sweden
Deaths from Alzheimer's disease
Cuban male musicians