Alfredo Rodriguez

Cuban pianist, bandleader, arranger, composer, singer and percussionist, born 25 October 1936 in Havana, Cuba and died 3 October 2005 in Paris, France. collaborated with “El Sexteto de Joe Cuba,” “Cubanisimo,” “La Orquesta de Artura Campa,” “Orquesta de Celia Cruz,” “La Charanga 76,” Justo Betancourt, “Patato” Valdes, among others. Upon his return to his homeland, invited to record on two productions by trumpeter Jesús Alemañy, Cuban pianist Alfredo Rodríguez did not miss the opportunity to use the studios, the same musicians, and the atmosphere that Alemañy's Cubanismo unleashed. It was not common to achieve an experimentation of Cuban flavor at the time when Cuba Linda, the CD led by Rodríguez, was released. It was 1996, and little was being done in that regard; a lot of mediocre music dominated the scene. The pianist—who had been living in Paris since 1983, semi-hidden from the mass audience, but awakening Caribbean passion in that city—returned to Cuba to record, in an unprecedented event at that time. And what's more, his return was on the path of good music with an album of exceptional quality. Cuba Linda covers a large part of Cuban popular music, and Alfredito masters it with uncommon touches of avant-garde. Alfredo Rodríguez honed his skills as a musician outside Cuba when he left for the United States in the 1960s: he was a pianist for Sonora Matancera, Ismael Rivera, and José Fajardo, among others, anPrior to his “return” to Cuba, he had participated in other projects such as Sonido sólido, recorded in New York in 1995 with percussionists Patato Valdés and Totico Arrango, on a well-made album that went unnoticed. With Cuba linda Rodríguez, he elevates the idea, which was outlined on that album, to a truly brilliant level. Bordering on the ritualistic and magical, it is built up with his intense piano, the drum beats of the legendary Tata Güines, the bass of Carlos del Puerto Jr., and the pailas of Emilio del Monte.