Charles Lomba "China" Valles (November 5, 1925 – December 17, 2014) was an American

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...

radio broadcaster Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio signal, audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-b ...

Jazz authority and broadcaster

He was a noted jazz authority and prominent jazz personality in South Florida for several decades. Over the years, his programs aired on several Miami radio stations, including

WFAB WFAB (890 AM) is a radio station broadcasting a Christian radio format. It is licensed to Ceiba, Puerto Rico Ceiba () is both a small town and a municipality in northeast Puerto Rico. It is named after the famous Ceiba tree. Ceiba is locat ...

WMBM WMBM (1490 AM) is a radio station broadcasting a gospel format. Licensed to Miami Beach, Florida, United States, the station serves the Miami area. The station is currently owned by New Birth Broadcasting Corp. Inc. and features programming from ...

, WGBS, WBUS, WTMI, and

WDNA WDNA is the callsign of a class C2 listener supported public radio station operating on 88.9 MHz in Miami, Florida, licensed in 1977 by the FCC to the Bascomb Memorial Broadcasting Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization. WDNA is the marke ...

Duke Ellington

Valles was also known by the

sobriquet A sobriquet ( ), or soubriquet, is a nickname, sometimes assumed, but often given by another, that is descriptive. A sobriquet is distinct from a pseudonym, as it is typically a familiar name used in place of a real name, without the need of expla ...

"The Maharajah, Purveyor of Swirls", a nickname given to him by his friend, Duke Ellington,

Death

Valles died on December 17, 2014, in Miami, at the age of 89.Miami jazz DJ icon China Valles, ‘The Maharajah,’ dies at 89
Howard Cohen. Miami Herald. December 18, 2014. Retrieved May 27, 2016

References

1925 births 2014 deaths American radio personalities Radio personalities from Florida Radio personalities from Miami African-American radio personalities Jazz radio presenters 20th-century African-American people 21st-century African-American people {{US-radio-bio-stub