Early career Bebo Valdés was born Dionisio Ramón Emilio Valdés Amaro From 1948 to 1957 he worked as pianist and arranger for the
vedette Rita Montaner, who was the lead act in the
Tropicana cabaret. His orchestra and that of
Armando Romeu alternated at the Tropicana, backing singers such as
Benny Moré and
Pío Leyva. Valdés played a role in the adaptation of the mambo into the
big band format (it was previously performed by
charangas as
danzón-mambo) during the late 1940s and 1950s, and developed a new rhythm to compete with
Perez Prado's mambo, called batanga. The batanga premiered at the Tropicana in 1952, but could not survive the popularity of another new rhythm, the
chachachá created by
Enrique Jorrín. Valdés was also an important figure in the incipient
Afro-Cuban jazz scene in Havana, taking part in sessions commissioned by American producer
Norman Granz during 1952. These sessions yielded the famous improvised piece "Con poco coco" among others, which served as a precedent to
Panart's
descarga sessions (with one exception). In 1957, Bebo left the Tropicana to establish his own orchestra, named Sabor de Cuba, which recorded with vocalists such as
Rolando Laserie, as well as instrumentals. His son, Jesús, later known as
Chucho, began his career playing piano in Bebo's band at age sixteen. In 1958, Bebo took part in the recording of
Cole Español by
Nat "King" Cole. In 1959, he recorded several descarga sessions with his orchestra for Gema Records, including "Special del Bebo", as well as
Cuban Dance Party, an early example of a stereo album recorded by a Cuban ensemble. It featured the
standard "Sasauma". He then lived briefly in the United States before touring Europe, and eventually settled in
Stockholm, where he lived until 2007. In Sweden he was instrumental in spreading the techniques of Cuban music and
Latin jazz.
Career revival Valdés' career got a late career boost in 1994 when he teamed up with saxophone player Paquito D'Rivera to release a CD called
Bebo Rides Again. In 2000, the film
Calle 54 by
Fernando Trueba brought his piano playing to a wide audience. The film showed the first collaboration between Bebo and his old friend
Cachao, with whom he had never recorded before. They collaborated again on
El Arte del Sabor, which also features
Carlos "Patato" Valdés and guest performances by
Paquito D'Rivera. In 2003, Bebo and
Diego El Cigala, a famous Spanish
cantaor (flamenco singer), recorded the album
Lágrimas Negras (
Black Tears), a fusion of Cuban rhythms and flamenco vocals. In 2004, he was again filmed by Trueba, in
El milagro de Candeal in Brazil, and later composed a score for Trueba's 2010 film
Chico and Rita, which included bits from his own life.
Chico and Rita ends with the dedication "a Bebo". During his career, Valdés—one of the founders of Latin jazz, and a pioneer in bringing Afro-Cuban sacred rhythms to popular dance music—won seven
Grammy Awards: two for
El Arte del Sabor (2002), one for
Lágrimas Negras, and two for
Bebo de Cuba in 2006 (in the categories "Best Traditional Tropical Album" and "Best Latin Jazz Album"). One of his last musical productions was one fittingly recorded with his son:
Juntos para siempre (
Together Forever 2008), winner of the
Grammy Award for
Best Latin Jazz Album at the
52nd Grammy Awards in 2010; they also won the
Latin Grammy Award on the same field. In May 2011, Bebo Valdés was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Music from
Berklee College of Music. ==Family and death==