Calle 54 Page #2

The best in Cuban music...

and the best artists

came through there.

I'm the sender.

I'm gonna treasure this shirt!

"New York"

Sundays, Chico O'Farrill,

a Cuban of Irish stock...

who came to New York

in the late '40s...

conducts his big band

at the club.

This is it.

Birdland.

Chico started out playing trumpet...

but turned to composing

and arranging...

for the bands of Machito, Count basie...

"Jazz Nightly"

Stan Kenton and benny Goodman.

Chico was the architect of Latin jazz

which he launched worldwide.

As he says.'

"The big band is my instrument. "

"Birdland"

The next one

we would like to play for you...

the band recorded version...

by "the Bird", Charlie Parker,

Flip Phillips, and Buddy Rich.

It's called "Afro Cuban Jazz Suite."

Alright!

"Stockholm"

"(Sverige)"

bebo Valdes, Chucho's father...

was bandleader at the Tropicana

when he left Cuba in 1 960.

On a European tour,

he fell in love with a Swede.

Abandoning everything, he retired

to Stockholm with his new family.

He spent 20 years

playing in hotel bars.

I fell madly in love

with this woman.

And I still love her.

It's been 37 years.

I'm old now, but I look at her

and it's still like the first day.

I invited bebo to play

with Israel Lopez "Cachao"...

a Cuban 20 days his junior

and a friend for more than 60 years.

both started playing

in short pants...

but this is their

first recording together.

Go on, say "seven!"

Cachao, say "seven!"

Afro-Cuban music

and Caribbean music...

have the same roots.

These roots are in Africa.

When Monk played the piano,

he'd suddenly jump up and dance.

He'd do steps that were signals

to the percussionist...

to hit harder--

and bang--

with the foot...

like a rumba dancer.

I think the basic rhythm

comes from Africa.

When he got up to dance,

he was like a rumba dancer.

A genuine rumba dancer,

really African!

Afro-Cuban music and jazz...

are like cousins.

And their common grandfather

is Africa.

bebo Valdes had boasted

of a granddaughter...

who won an Italian prize for piano.

Like his other Cuban grandchildren,

he'd never met her.

"Sony Music Studios"

Chucho Valdes hadn't seen

his father in five years.

We met in New York. I invited them

to do a dialogue with two pianos.

Hey, you're as fat as a toad!

Everything's fine, Dad.

Glad to be back here.

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