Five-time Grammy and three-time Latin Grammy award-winning pianist, composer and arranger Chucho Valdés tells Iggy Fenech about his upcoming stint at the Malta Jazz Festival.

With a career that spans over five decades, Chucho Valdés is an institution upon himself in the world of Latin jazz – not just in his home-land of Cuba but even in the US and beyond.

Born Dionisio Jesús Valdés Rodríguez, Chucho was born into a family of musicians, with both his father, Bebo Valdés, and his mother, Pilar, being among his first teachers.

“Music was the most important thing to us all,” Valdés says. “I grew up listening to, and sharing ideas with, some amazing musicians that came over to our house to rehearse and to ask my father to write some piano pieces for them. Ultimately, I think living in that environment was crucial to my persona and to my career.”

Saying Valdés was a prodigy may be a bit of an understatement, as by the age of three he already knew how to play the piano using both hands.

As legend has it, his father once told the late Israel Lopez to listen to a young, American pianist perform, only to find out it was a four-year-old Valdés at the piano.

It’s been 69 years since that infamous incident, and Valdés now has a total of five Grammy awards to his name.

The first one he got in 1978 for his album Live at Newport; another in 1998 as the contributor of two tracks (Mr Bruce and Mambo para Roy) in the CD Havana by Roy Hargrove; then again in 2003 for his Live in the Village Vanguard album; in 2009 for his collaboration with his father; and the last one, so far, in 2011 for his penultimate album Chucho’s Steps.

This legendary jazz musician has also received three Latin Grammy Awards, one of which was for his aforementioned collaboration with his father, Bebo. Their relationship, however, was a turbulent one, with Valdés’s father moving to Mexico and then Europe back in the 1960s.

We had played with a singer from Malta as part of the Orquesta Cubana

The two wouldn’t see each other for 18 years, until the time Valdés was just debuting with his group Irakere. Even so, a duet on Calais 54, a film by the Oscar-winning Spanish director Fernando Trueba, helped revitalise their relationship and pave the way for the duo to win a Grammy together.

“There have been many moments throughout my career that I still cherish,” he says. “One of them is definitely founding Irakere 40, and the other was meeting Bruce Lundvall, the then-president of CBS, who helped make the group known all over the world!”

Irakere, which was co-founded by Valdés with music director and composer Armando de Sequeira Romeu, went on to become one of the most influential musical laboratories in the genre of Afro-Cuban jazz and Cuban popular culture. So much so, that their sound was awarded the Grammy Award for Best Latin Recording in 1980 for their album Irakere.

Valdés left the band in 2005 and has since had a successful career as a soloist. He has travelled the globe serenading the audiences of various major cities and towns; and now it’s his time to perform at the Malta Jazz Festival.

“A long time ago, when I was part of the Orquesta Cubana de Música Moderna, we had played with a singer from Malta and he told me about how beautiful his country was and how lovely Maltese music could be,” says Valdés. “That made me very curious about the island, and now I finally have the chance to visit it for myself!”

Valdés is going to be one of a number of VIP acts performing at this year’s Malta Jazz Festival, which is celebrating its 25th year.

“The festival is a great place where musicians from all over the world can get together and share the stage and knowledge about the genre,” Valdés says. “It is also great promotion for Maltese music.”

Valdés’s stint is doubtlessly going to be a memorable one. In fact, he’s known for his intense performances. So much so, that when the Spanish newspaper El País reviewed one of his many shows it said that: “The results were overwhelming. Sparks flew… [and]… all those in attendance ended up standing up singing and dancing to hits such as Xiomara Mayoral or Bacalao con Pan.”

Maltese audiences should expect nothing less and, as he puts it himself, the crowd should be ready to experience “a panoramic view of all the Afro-Cuban rhythms. Oh, and also some music to dance to, too”.

Meanwhile, Valdés will spend his remaining time in Malta sightseeing and learning more about our culture. So keep your eyes peeled for this legendary musician.

The Malta Jazz Festival takes place between Thursday and Sunday at Ta’ Liesse, Valletta. Chucho Valdés performs on Saturday.

www.maltajazzfestival.org