Chucho Valdes & Irakere - Besame Mucho
From Album: "Chucho Valdes & Irakere ~ Unforgettable Boleros".
Chucho Valdés (born October 9, 1941), born Jesús Dionisio Valdés, is a Cuban pianist, bandleader, composer and arranger. He was born in Quivicán, Cuba. In 1972 he founded the group Irakere, one of Cuba's best-known Latin jazz bands. Together with pianist Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Valdés is revered as one of Cuba's greatest jazz pianists. His father is the famed Cuban pianist and former director of Havana's famous "Tropicana" night club band Bebo Valdés.
Chucho has won five Grammy awards - one in 1978 for the album Live at Newport by Irakere, a second in 1998 for his contribution to the CD Havana by his band Crisol (formed in 1997), with two songs Mr. Bruce and Mambo para Roy written by Chucho, and the third in 2003 for his album Live at the Village Vanguard. ~ Chucho Valdes Official Website
Irakere (Yoruba for "vegetation") is a Cuban band founded by pianist Chucho Valdés in 1973 that won the Grammy Award for Best Latin Recording in 1980 with its album Irakere. The original members of the band were Chucho Valdés (piano),Arturo Sandoval(Trumpet), Paquito D'Rivera (alto saxophone and flute), Oscar Valdés (percussion and vocals), Carlos Puerto (bass), Carlos Emilio Morales (guitar), Jorge Varona (trumpet), Tato Alfonso (percussion) and Bernardo Garcia (drums). Its later members included flautist José Luis Cortés who later founded NG La Banda; percussionist Anga Díaz, who later went to France; percussionist Fran Padilla, who later moved to Spain; saxophonist Paquito D'Rivera, who left Irakere and Cuba in 1980 during a tour in Spain before moving to the United States; trumpeter Arturo Sandoval, who went to the US in 1990, as well as Saxophonist Carlos Averhoff.
The group used a wide array of percussion instruments like batá, abacuá and arará drums, chequerés, erikundis, maracas, claves, cencerros, bongó, tumbadoras, and güiro.
Irakere's song "Anunga Nunga" was featured in the video game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. The song has been erroneously titled "Aguanile", even in the Vice City booklet and soundtrack. Other songs of theirs, "Bacalao Con Pan" and "Baila Mi Ritmo" (with Chucho Valdez) were featured on the soundtrack of the 2006 video game, Scarface: The World Is Yours.
