Chucho Valdes Back in Charge Celebrating the 50th of Irakere

The virtuoso Cuban pianist Chucho Valdez will restart tour celebrating the 50 years of Irakere and with his Royal Quartet and at the end of March until the end of July.

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He will be accompanied by Horacio "El Negro" Hernández (drums), José A. Gola (bass) and Roberto Jr. Vizcaíno (timbale, drums) plus a wind section formed by Eddy de Armas Jr. and Carlos Averhoff Jr., among other past members of the group.

The tour will begin this March 23 in the city of Florida after different dates in the United States, culminating the tour in Europe on July 30 in France.

Chucho Valdez is one of the largest and most prolific instrumentalists in Cuba, he was the leader of Irakere, one of the most influential Cuban groups of all time.

Irakere represented in the 1970s the avant-garde of Cuban music combining jazz with traditional Cuban music, African music, funk, rock among other genres.

It also featured top Cuban performers such as drummer Enrique Pla, saxophonists Carlos Averhoff, Orlando del Valle, Paquito D Rivera and trumpeters Arturo Sandoval among other great Cuban musicians.

Last February Chucho Valdez offered the first show of the 50th anniversary of Irakere in which he had luxury guests such as former members as the aforementioned Paquito D Rivera and Arturo Sandoval.