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On March 22, 2013 in Stockholm, Sweden, Dionisio Ramón Emilio Valdés Amaro, better known as Bebo Valdés, died.

He was an excellent musician of Cuban music and Afro-Cuban jazz, considered one of the central figures of the golden age of Cuban music.

In addition to being a pianist, his best known facet, he has been a composer, arranger and orchestra conductor.

He was born in Quivicán, Cuba, on October 9, 1918. He was the father of the Afro-Cuban jazz pianist Chucho Valdés (b. 1941). From 1931 to 1935 he studied piano in his hometown with Moraima González; in 1936 he moved with his family to Havana, where he studied music theory, harmony and composition with Oscar Bofartigue.

In 1938 he made his professional debut with Happy D’Ulacia’s orchestra. He played in Havana, since the 1940s, in the orchestras Ulacia, García Curbelo, Julio Cueva and Orquesta Tropicana, and recorded albums with groups dedicated to performing Afro-Cuban jazz.2

Known among his family and friends by the affectionate nickname of Caballón because of his considerable stature, he composed mambos, such as La rareza del siglo, which covers the genre recently introduced by Pérez Prado and which would change the course of Cuban music. From 1948 until 1957, he worked at the Tropicana cabaret as pianist and arranger for Rita Montaner.

The Sabor de Cuba orchestra, of Bebo Valdés, and that of Armando Romeu, made the show of this night club, in which Valdés stopped performing in 1957, when he was hired by Ernesto Roca, of the Peer International Music Publishers, to make arrangements for Xiomara Alfaro and Pío Leyva; at the same time, he joined Guillermo Álvarez Guedez, of the Panart and Rolando Laserie in Radio Progreso. With his orchestra Sabor de Cuba, he accompanied singers Reinaldo Henríquez, Orlando Guerra (Cascarita), Pío Leyva and Ada Rex; Beny Moré also sang with this group, and Chucho Valdés made his debut.

About the descarga or jam session, there are multiple versions, this is the one by Bebo Valdés which, due to the concreteness of data, dates and record labels that made the recordings, is the most objective: “One night in October 1952, I was resting in a cabaret in Havana with members of the Tropicana orchestra.

It is important to know that since 1948, Cuban, Mexican or even American musicians used to meet on Sunday afternoons at the Tropicana to play descarga, in the course of which we mixed jazz and Cuban rhythms.

Sometimes the descargas were held at four o’clock in the morning, at the end of the [Tropicana] show. The percussionist Guillermo Barreto was the one who animated them; we had received Roy Haynes, Kenny Drew, Sarah Vaughan, Richard Davis and many other musicians passing through; in fact, all the great names of jazz paraded through the Tropicana.

All of that could have been recorded, but no one was interested. So, that night Irving Price, the owner of a record store on Galiano Street, announces to me that producer Norman Granz is in town and that he can’t believe that Cuban musicians are capable of playing jazz.

Granz and Price ask me to go to the studio to record. It was September 16, 1952. So, I called some musicians, but I myself was late for the session, because in the morning I had another recording for RCA: I was going to accompany a singer! When I finally arrived at Panart’s studio, Granz had already left for the United States.

We called the orchestra The Andre’s All Star, after the name of Irving Price’s record store. We had decided to play classic jazz tunes, such as Distrust, Taboo, Sleep and Blues for Andre. At the end of the session, as there were still a few minutes available for the record, I started playing a riff, from which we improvised. We called that track “Con poco coco.”

The record was titled Cubano! and the participating musicians were all from the Tropicana cabaret: Gustavo Más, tenor saxophone; Alejandro Vivar (El Negro Vivar), trumpet; Kiki Hernández, double bass; Guillermo Barreto, timbal; Rolando Alfonso, tumbadora and Bebo Valdés, piano.

The works it contains are the same as those mentioned by Bebo Valdés, and the label, Mercury. In 1955, Bebo Valdés recorded, in the studios of Radio Progreso, Holiday Habana and She Adores the Latin Type, for the Decca label, which contained mambo, chachachá, bolero, jazz descarga, even jazz with bebop tendencies.

According to Luc Delannoy, in 1956 the Panart recorded Cuban Jam Session, with Julio Gutiérrez and Pedro Jústiz (Peruchín), as directors, and the musicians Alejandro Vivar (El Negro Vivar), Edilberto Escrich, Osvaldo Urrutia (Mosquifin), Emilio Peñalver, José Silva (CHombo), Juan Pablo Miranda, Salvador Vivar, Jesús Esquijarrosa (Chucho), Oscar Valdés, father, Marcelino Valdés, Walfredo de los Reyes and José Antonio Méndez. The participation of Israel López (Cachao) in a descarga did not occur until 1957, when the Panart recorded Descargas cubanas, with the participation of Cachao himself, Guillermo Barreto, Gustavo Tamayo, Rogelio Iglesias, Richard Egües, Andrés Hechavarría (El Niño Rivera), Rolito Pérez, Alfredo León, Arístides Soto (Tata Güines), Alejandro Vivar (El Negro Vivar), Generoso Jiménez, Orestes López (Macho), Emilio Peñalver and Virgilio Vixama. In other years, there were also recordings of downloads, and some unrecorded ones, such as those recalled by Leonardo Acosta at the Cuban Jazz Club, held between 1958 and 1960, with the participation of Pedro Jústiz (Peruchín), piano; Guillermo Barreto, drums and pailas, and Arístides Soto (Tata Güines), tumbadora (drums). This proves -or at least shows another side of the coin- that Bebo Valdés was one of the initiators of descarga in Cuba, a resource used by Cuban musicians in the most diverse instrumental formats, genres and styles of our popular music, as, for example, did the composers of the filin movement.

On June 8, 1952, with a band of twenty musicians, Bebo unveiled the batanga rhythm in the studios of RHC Cadena Azul; among the three singers in the orchestra was Beny Moré.

That same year he travels to Mexico with the purpose of recording a disc with this new modality of Cuban music, which also included a new choreography; they were not successful, and, according to Bebo Valdés, “the batanga died a natural death”.

When he left Cuba in 1960 due to disagreements with the Cuban government, Bebo also abandoned his family, his wife Pilar Valdés and his five children (including Chucho). Bebo Valdés goes to Mexico, then moves to Los Angeles, California, where he works with singer Miguelito Valdés; from there he travels to Spain, where he records two albums as director of the orchestra that accompanies Chilean singer Lucho Gatica.

Later he toured England, France, Holland, Germany and Finland with the Lecuona Cuban Boys. In 1963 he settled in Sweden, and worked with the Hatuey Orchestra, a Swedish group playing Cuban music. In Sweden he formed a new family when he married in 1963.

International career

After thirty years of relative anonymity, on November 25, 1994, Valdés received a call from Paquito D’Rivera, who invited him to record a new album in Germany for the Messidor label. A new beginning in his career took place at the age of 76 with the recording of Bebo Rides Again.

He participated in Fernando Trueba’s film Calle 54, along with, among others, pianist and composer Chucho Valdés, Paquito D’Rivera, Elaine Elías, Chano Domínguez, Jerry González, Michel Camilo, Leandro J. Barbieri (Gato Barbieri), Ernesto Antonio Puente (Tito Puente), Arturo O’Farrill (Chico), Israel López (Cachao), Orlando Ríos (Puntilla) and Carlos Valdés (Patato).

In 2004 he traveled to Salvador de Bahia, Brazil, to participate in Trueba’s film El milagro de Candeal, along with Carlinhos Brown, Marisa Monte, Mateus Aleluia and César Mendez.

An integral musician capable of tackling the most diverse genres and styles of music, not only as a pianist and composer, but also as an orchestrator and orchestra conductor of sublime values; of solid technical training, both theoretical and pianistic, Bebo Valdés is one of the all-time greats of Cuban music. He was, with Israel López (Cachao) and Patato Valdés, nominated for the Latin Grammy Award for El arte del sabor, best traditional tropical album 2002.

In 2002, Fernando Trueba produced Lágrimas negras, an album that unites flamenco singer Diego el Cigala with Bebo Valdés on piano.

After its release in 2003, it became an international success, recognized with a Grammy, three Music Awards, an Ondas Award, five Amigo Awards, three Platinum Discs in Spain and one each in Argentina, Mexico and Venezuela. The New York Times praised the album as Best Latin Music Album of the Year and opened the doors to a tour of Paris, New York, London, Havana, Buenos Aires, Tokyo, Mexico City, Madrid and Barcelona, among others. By the end of 2004 the album had sold more than 700,000 copies worldwide.

He retired to Benalmádena, a village in the province of Málaga (Spain), until his death in Stockholm (Sweden).

Chucho Valdés

Read also: Carlos “Patato” Valdés one of the best percussionists in the history of Latin Jazz

Henry Benavides, arranger, composer, pianist and producer of tropical music with emphasis on Salsa, was born in Barrancabermeja, Santander, Colombia.

In York, NY March 31, 2023 ‘Por Cuenta Propia’ is the name of Henry Benavides’ new project, with which he wishes to elevate his musical career. The Colombian composer, pianist, arranger, and producer of tropical music pays homage to great artists of the industry with his new album.

“The production is inspired by the great salseros who influenced my musical beginnings, such as Richie Ray and Papo Lucca.

The songs I chose marked my childhood, and in my new album I seek to give it a modern and different touch with my arrangements,” shares Benavides.

It is worth noting that the album is musically diverse. Despite being known for revolutionizing the tropical industry, Benavides shows us that even playing boleros, he is capable of transforming and creating new stories.

‘Por Cuenta Propia’ will be available through all digital platforms starting April 21, 2023, and you can already pre-order it through Spotify.

This project symbolizes the convergence of past stories and new rhythms. At the same time, Benavides is preparing for his upcoming Latin American tour this summer.

About Henry Benavides

“Henry Benavides is a Colombian tropical music composer, pianist, arranger and producer whose focus is on modernizing great salsa songs and giving them a new style. Benavides has had the opportunity to work with the ‘Discos Fuentes’ record label in Medellin, Colombia, where he collaborated with internationally recognized artists. As a member of the new generation, his mission is to modernize the salsa genre and share with his style, a new way of making salsa”.

Henry Benavides, arranger, composer, pianist and producer of tropical music with emphasis on Salsa, was born in Barrancabermeja, Santander.

He inherited from his grandparents the taste for music, at the age of 12 he began to play the drums induced by his father.

He graduated as a high school graduate from the industrial technical institute in the year 2000, and by then he already had clear what would be his life project, to live for music.

He decided to travel in 2002 to Pamplona, Norte de Santander, where he settled and enrolled in the university of this same city in the Faculty of Music to formalize his musical studies.

Shortly after entering the school he stood out among his classmates for his great talent. He was a member of the Big Band Oriol Rangel of this institution, being in his seventh semester, his teachers tell him that the knowledge he has acquired so far is the necessary, and that he really has nothing to do there, with the great talent he has, and they suggest him to go out to the arena! What prompted this Barranqueño to undertake his audacity in 2005 and decided to seek opportunities in the city of Medellin.

There he began working with Jhon Jairo Betancur making tracks and karaokes of salsa, merengues, ballads and vallenato, for Discos Fuentes recording pianos and then produced them, being in charge of everything for 2 and a half years, time that was enough to make known his talent which gave him the opportunity to work with the master Alberto Barros in the musical direction of the tribute to the Colombian salsa, and zone three, and to make a production for Panamanian singer Gabi Gabi Gabi.

production for the Panamanian singer Gabino Pampini, Sonora Carruseles, among others.

In 2009, he was invited to record in the city of Cali, an opportunity that he did not miss to seek new alternatives in his career and decided to seek the maestro Alexis Lozano, director of the orchestra Guayacán, to show him his work done during all these years.

He was lucky enough to meet him, and show his talent, which led to an exchange of knowledge and great musical connection between the two and immediately Alexis made it concrete and proposed him to produce music immediately.

In 2012 he directs and produces for Sony music in Mexico, the DVD “La Salsa de los Grandes”, a tribute to the Fania All Stars, with the participation of the best singers and musicians of the world salsa. Considered this work as the most representative of his career for having obtained GOLD and PLATINUM DISC, becoming the only Santandereano to obtain historically this recognition.

In addition to this, he was the author, composer and producer of songs such as YO SOY BARRANQUEÑO, where he pays tribute to his hometown, and EL HINCHA NÚMERO UNO, a song dedicated to his alma team, Alianza Petrolera.

She currently has a music production company, where she makes local, national and international productions, and at the same time has formed her orchestra, with musicians representative of her city, with which she has had the honor of being the only one to accompany an international artist, this being another historic achievement.

In this year 2020 he will launch his new production, entitled “Mi Vida”, which contains 10 unpublished songs of composition, arrangement and production, a dream that began 10 years ago and will close a very important cycle in the life of this young and talented artist.

Among other projects, he is the Musical Director of #salsagang, a project to promote new talents that is currently focused on the Mexican market, as it is one of the most important places for tropical music.

Henry Benavides through his extensive experience and professionalism, has positioned himself as one of the best salsa musicians and producers in the country.

All the productions mentioned above, can be found on the web and social networks.

Contact us:

Yoly Terán

610.348.9700

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Henry Benavides

Read also: Salsa at Hacienda El Paraíso with Los Lebron Brothers Orchestra