It's shows like these that make me rue the day I stopped playing the piano.
The Chucho Valdes quartet and very special guest Joe Lovano played a heart-stopping show last night at Spaulding Auditorium. The evening featured Valdes on piano and Lovano on tenor sax, with a big kick added by Valdes' sister, Mayra Caridad Valdes Rodriguez on vocals and Yaroldy Abreu Robles on percussion.
The show was introduced by Hopkins Center Director of Programming Margaret Lawrence, who spoke of the band's setbacks in coming to the United States. After several days of failed attempts to fly in, the band arrived on Wednesday, kicking off its tour here at the Hop last night. Lawrence reminded the audience that the group's appearance in the states was symbolic of the fact that music knows no borders.
Valdes walked out on stage, towering over his fellow quartet members and took a seat at his equally enormous grand piano. He opened the show with a song from his 1998 album, "Bele Bele en la Habana." In the beginning, the song remained fairly true to the album version, but by the middle, Valdes was beginning to exercise his infamous improvisation abilities.
At one point during the song, his fingers were gliding over so many keys at once that I swore there had to be two pianos playing at the same time. I couldn't see how anyone could evoke sound from that many keys simultaneously. Valdes' hands were fluttering across the keys like spiders running across the floor.
Valdes' next song would be dedicated to the funk master George Clinton. But in the spirit of Cuban music, Valdes would be playing this one as a cha-cha. After hearing this song, I felt it fairly appropriate to rename the group the "Quick Hands Quartet" because between Valdes and percussionist Robles, it looked more like fans hovering above the piano and the bongos than two sets of hands.
Even several years after seeing the quartet play in Philadelphia, the one thing that I distinctly remembered was the quickness and precision of the percussionist and last night, Robles did not fail to disappoint.
Next, the mood was brought down by some sultry red lighting and Valdes' sister Mayra was called out on stage. Her first song was a rendition of the romantic ballad "Besame Mucho," a song which has probably been sung by every Latin singer since the song was composed but most memorably performed by Latin music god, Luis Miguel.
This version was quite different from Miguel's rendition. The quartet then brought the rhythm back to its former liveliness while Mayra kicked things up a notch and began warming up the crowd by getting them to clap along. She then demonstrated some of the finest salsa moves I have seen in my life, not to mention from someone older than my parents.
As the audience said goodbye to Mayra, they welcomed Joe Lovano to the stage. As the night's pattern of alternating between fast songs and slow songs was beginning to unfold, the group again brought the tempo down for Lovano's first number. The lull of his saxophone supported by the rhythm of the Latin jazz was reminiscent of Bossa Nova, but maintained a Cuban flair.
The first of several beautiful duets featuring Valdes and Lovano was an audience favorite. They were stunned, motionless and speechless, mesmerized by the extraordinary harmony produced by the two musicians. Even though it was only halfway through the show, the audience gave a standing ovation at the end of the song.
After a few more pieces, the band called it a night and headed offstage. They were again met with a standing ovation. The lights in Spaulding came on, which to me, as a hater of all encores regardless of the band, indicated that the show was over. But the crowd was relentless. Perhaps two people turned around and walked out, but everyone else persistently kept clapping until the band came back on stage. The group finished off with a zesty piece featuring an amazing duet between Lovano and Robles.
Following the performance was a question and answer session with Valdes and Lovano. Lovano, who appeared to be having an out-of-body experience during his encore showdown with Robles, was asked if he ever "lost himself" while playing. Lovano responded that he was not lost and that, in fact, improvisation is what jazz is all about. He claimed to have been fascinated by the rhythm in several of the songs Thursday night -- the way the songs flowed and came together. He said that mastering the flowing approach to the music is everything and that magic happens in exploration -- that that improv is what makes jazz special.
Valdes was then asked if he thought the trade restrictions placed on Cuba by the United States were detrimental to the progress of music in the country. Valdes said that there's a little something called the shortwave radio and that the musicians had gotten hold of them. He told of how they would listen to the Jazz Hour every week and in that way would keep up with new developments in the field of jazz.
Not only was the show itself spectacular, but even the Q&A proved to be a very enlightening experience. Both Valdes and Lovano are definitely what jazz fans would call "cool cats." I just hope to God that this tour inspires them to put out a CD together. The chemistry that they achieved on stage last night was truly one of a kind.
