Pianists
Arturo O'Farrill and
Chucho Valdés celebrate their rich musical family legacies on 2017's ambitious, gloriously realized
Familia: Tribute to Bebo & Chico. Although they grew up on separate shores,
O'Farrill in New York (via Mexico) and
Valdés in Cuba, they both came of age in musical households as the sons of legendary Cuban bandleaders
Chico O'Farrill and
Bebo Valdés. Along with icons like
Chano Pozo,
Machito, and
Dizzy Gillespie, the elder
O'Farrill and
Valdés were giants of Afro-Cuban music. Similarly, just as their fathers helped further the dissemination and creative development of Afro-Cuban and Latin jazz,
Arturo and
Chucho are innovators in their own rights, with decades of experience playing both traditional Cuban music and ultra-modern jazz. Impressively, they bring all that history to bear on
Familia, a two-disc collection featuring songs composed by their fathers, as well as new compositions inspired by their lives growing up in such deeply artistic families. Joining them here are their equally talented children, including trumpeter Adam O'Farrill, drummer Zack O'Farrill, pianist Leyanis Valdés, and drummer Jessie Valdés. Also on board are the members of
Arturo O'Farrill's own Grammy Award-winning Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra. Disc one primarily features the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra and finds
O'Farrill and
Valdés taking a more traditional, if still dazzling approach on cuts like the merengue-infused "BeboChicoChuchoTuro" and a lushly orchestrated reading of
Bebo Valdés' "Ecuacion." Also compelling are the pianist's solo turns on
Chico O'Farrill's "Pianitis" and
O'Farrill's homage to his parents, "Fathers, Mothers, Sons, Daughters," which features several sparkling cadenzas from pianist Leyanis Valdés. Disc two showcases the smaller, post-bop-leaning Third Generations Ensemble, in which they explore the more progressive edges of Afro-Cuban jazz. Here, trumpeter (and third place finisher at the 2014 Thelonious Monk Jazz Competition) Adam O'Farrill shines, revealing his knack for harmonically adventurous improvisation à la
Woody Shaw on the kinetic and fractured "Run and Jump." Similarly, the trumpeter breathes new life into
Chico O'Farrill's "Pura Emocion" framed by his father's taut, angular arrangement. Elsewhere, Zack O'Farrill contributes the expansive "Gonki Gonki" (his mother's way of describing the sound of rhythmic piano montunos) and
Chucho offers the lushly virtuosic solo track "Para Chico." The sheer amount of virtuosity on display on
Familia: Tribute to Bebo & Chico might well be overwhelming if the music itself weren't so warmly and beautifully rendered. ~ Matt Collar