I Missed You Too! (Sunnyside)
Chucho Valdés & Paquito D’Rivera Reunion Sextet
Released July 22, 2022
New York City Record Best Latin Releases of 2022
Latin Grammy 2023 Best Latin Jazz/Jazz Album Winner
YouTube:
https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_kJM1S20ZkUKrUGw2SPV8Y4v6a0HkshdmU
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About:
In 1962, two of the most influential and talented instrumentalists that Cuba ever produced were brought together. Saxophonist/clarinetist Paquito D’Rivera was invited to hear pianist Chucho Valdés at a local club in his Marianao neighborhood of South Havana. The two soon became a musical partnership that helped shape jazz in Cuba. Their paths would separate in 1980 when D’Rivera left Cuba.
Sixty years after their initial meeting, the pair has finally reunited to create a monumental new recording. Their I Missed You Too! marks D’Rivera and Valdés’s first recording since they were both members of Cuba’s most influential jazz/fusion ensemble, Irakere.
Both D’Rivera and Valdés are sons of accomplished musicians. They grew up enmeshed in the musical culture and as child prodigies. When they met, their rapport was immediate. Their background in conservatory and popular music scenes allowed them and their music to go far afield, from jazz and son to classical and mambo.
Their first musical explorations would be as members of the Orquesta Cubana de Música Moderna, an eclectic and experimental large ensemble used for stage and screen. Soon thereafter, they formed Quinteto de la Orquesta Cubana, a small group that focused on jazz with Afro-Cuban rhythmic influence. Their longest collaboration was with jazz fusion group Irakere, which began its syncopated journey in 1973.
D’Rivera left Irakere and Cuba in 1980. He eventually settled in New York City where he continued his ascendance in the jazz world, where he remains one of the top woodwind players across any idiom. Valdés remained in Cuba and was the leader of Irakere until 2005. Since then, the pianist has continued as an ensemble leader and solo performer throughout the world.
The past few years have found the old friends reunited for a handful of performances. It was only natural that they take the reunion to the next step and record an album. To do so, the pair recruited the best musicians specializing in the blending of jazz and Afro-Cuban music in their Reunion Sextet. The Sextet features trumpeter/valve trombonist Diego Urcola, drummer Dafnis Prieto, bassist José A. Gola, and percussionist Roberto Junior Vizcaino.
The Cuban legends and their stalwart collaborators met in early January 2022 at Frost School of Music Recording Studio in Miami, Florida to capture the grand event. The program they recorded included originals by both leaders along with pieces by composers of two far flung generations and Latin styles, Hilario Durán and Carlos Gardel.
The recording begins with Valdés’s “Mambo Influenciado;” the electrifying piece features lightning quick passages for D’Rivera’s fleet alto along with brilliant solos from Valdés and Urcola. The pianist’s “Mozart a la Cubana” highlights the leaders’ comfort in blending jazz and blues forms with classical music elements, most notably Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s “Eine Kleine Nachtmusik.” D’Rivera’s “I Missed You Too!” swings subtly with the composer’s clarinet and Urcola’s trombone acting as perfect foils. Valdés sets up a bright montuno on Hilario Duran’s tribute to D’Rivera, “Pac-Man,” which builds into a percussive showstopper.
Valdés’s haunting piano leads into his piece “Claudia,” a hypnotic ballad that features D’Rivera’s tremendous clarinet playing. Written by Valdés and D’Rivera, “El Majá de Vento” establishes a hard driving groove immediately and doesn’t let up as the horn players take turns over the churning rhythms established by Prieto, Gola, and Vizcaino. The recording concludes with Argentine composer Carlos Gardel’s lilting tango, “El Día Que Me Quieras,” performed here in a moving duet between Valdés and D’Rivera.
It is truly a wonderful thing to have two giants of Cuban music reunite. Chucho Valdés and Paquito D’Rivera make up for lost time with their Reunion Sextet on the wonderful and diverse I Missed You Too!
Track Listing:
1. Mambo Influenciado (Chucho Valdés) 4:10
2. Mozart A La Cubana (Chucho Valdés) 8:56
3. I Missed You Too! (Paquito D’Rivera) 5:58
4. Pac-Man (Hilario Durán) 6:34
5. Claudia (Chucho Valdés) 10:07
6. El Majá De Vento (Chucho Valdés / Paquito D’Rivera) 5:32
7. El Día Que Me Quieras (Carlos Gardel) 8:40
Personnel:
Chucho Valdés: piano
Paquito D’Rivera: alto saxofone (1, 4, 6, 7) & clarinet (2, 3, 5)
Diego Urcola: trumpet (2, 3, 5, 6) & valve trombone (1, 4)
Dafnis Prieto: drums (1-6)
José A. Gola: double (1-5) & electric bass (6)
Roberto Junior Vizcaino: percussion (1-6)
Recorded January 13 & 14, 2022, at The Frost School Of Music, Miami, Florida
Musical Production: Chucho Valdés and Paquito D’Rivera
Executive Production: Brenda Feliciano & Lorena Salcedo
Recording Engineer: Jack McGuire
Mixed by Ryan Haft & Jose Armando Gola
Mastering: Gerard Albo
Painting by Omar Corrales
Photo by OCP Photography
Graphic Design: Christopher Drukker
Review:
The longevity and the durability of the musical relationship between Paquito D’Rivera and Chucho Valdés give a freedom and flexibility to these performances on I Missed You Too! that defies all logic; they certainly go way beyond the kind of politely mannered performances that might ensue when musical friends get together after what seems like an age. In the case of Mr Valdés and Mr D’Rivera it is a relationship that began when the latter was introduced to the former by a revered friend – Samuel Téllez. Mr D’Rivera’s notes – written with customary wit and warmth – suggest that the musical paths have crossed frequently [in the years following their introduction, which was in 1962] and they spent much time honing their skills with some of the most iconic Cuban ensembles. [How about Irakere!?]
This performance probably has been a long time coming, what with their busy schedules zig-zagging across the globe. But from the first moments of their infectious, quick-witted interaction on this disc they parley like old friends, in a noble performance that is absolutely a revelation. The repertoire is just plain beautiful and played so. Chucho Valdés captures the eloquent emotional tension in the lofty curve of this music. The best example of this partnership by far comes right at the end of the performance; a duet “El día que me quieras” [literally “The day you loved me”] by one of the greatest of boleros written by the legendary Carlos Gardel, where both Paquito D’Rivera and Chucho Valdés shape its tessitura to reflect the impending drama of the piece.
But the magical musical partnership is jump-started right out of the gate with Mr Valdés’ iconic composition “Mambo Influenciado”, a piece that has been played so many times over the years [and by so many musicians]. And yet the music sounds here, as if it were just written and improvised on the fly. Mr D’Rivera’s alto saxophone is particularly incisive on this chart. It was just as much a stroke of genius [hardly surprising] for Mr D’Rivera to play “Mozart a la Cubana” using his magical and burnished Louis Rossi clarinet – the first clarinet to be made in Santiago de Chile [according to Mr D’Rivera himself] from a remarkable piece of wood brought to the instrument maker by an old friend of the clarinetist – no less.
At any rate the tonal range of the instrument is exploited with such unbridled mastery by Mr D’Rivera that it encompasses dynamic mutations of colour, from broadly sonorous to gently ethereal. Thus the clarinetist is able to match the great pianist Mr Valdés – phrase for phrase, when the emotion demands it – in soto voce and extreme pianissimo with a kind of ‘ductile’ give and take to each other’s phrasing. Together the partnership offers a free-flowing, flexible approach [to this repertoire] of vibrant impulsiveness and expressive fervour.
This is equally true of music such as the maddeningly brilliant and quixotic “Mozart a la Cubana” composed specially for Mr D’Rivera by Mr Valdés. [The alto saxophonist and clarinetist returns the favour on a breathtakingly tender, yet racy, “I Missed You Too!”] Exquisitely tenderness is maintained as well on the ballad “Claudia”. Meanwhile the musical character sketch of Mr D’Rivera, “Pac-Man” [written by a friend of both musicians by the Hilario Durán] is played with wit and almost insolent virtuosity. This partnership offers an uncompromising structural wholeness to this music. Their grip on rhythm and pulse is unequivocal, artistic rapport extraordinarily close.
Of course the music is raised to quite another level by the sublime musicians who complete the sextet as they keep both Mr D’Rivera and Mr Valdés on their proverbial toes as well. The great trumpeter and valve trombonist Diego Urcola provides unique décor to parts that require the resonant or muted tone of the trumpet. And when the gurgling human voice-like annunciations of his valve trombone are called for then he plays the instrument with brooding lyricism. A majestic and towering wall of rhythm is created by the outstanding drummer Dafnis Prieto, and the rest of the considerable percussion colours are painted by Roberto Vizcaíno Jr. Bassist José Armando Gola brings his uncompromising and unique rumbling gravitas to this rhythmic edifice. No wonder the music of this memorable recording is raised to a rarefied realm…
Raul Da Gama (Latin Jazz Network)
