BRATTLEBORO — The Vermont Jazz Center presents Cuban pianist/composer Manuel Valera in concert with the New Cuban Express Quintet (NCE) on Saturday, Nov. 16 at 8 p.m.
This international band is touring in support of a new, highly acclaimed recording, “Expectativas,” its second Grammy-nominated disc in two years.
Valera is on piano and keyboards; Joel Frahmis is on saxophone; John Benitez is on bass; Ludwig Alfonso is on drums, and Mauricio Herrera handles percussion.
Although Valera is barely in his mid-30s, he's recorded seven highly regarded CDs as a leader; as a sideman he's served with some of the genre's most advanced and demanding luminaries.
He appeared as pianist when drummer Dafnis Prieto performed at the Vermont Jazz Center in March 2009, and has recorded with the likes of Prieto, Paquito D'Rivera, Brian Lynch, Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Chucho Valdés, and Samuel Torres.
Valera's music differs notably from the Cuban ensembles he references: He is more versed in jazz, and so stretches his improvisational vocabulary. His writing includes the rhythmic pulse of Cuba, but he marries that sound to that of jazz influences Herbie Hancock, Bill Evans, and Miles Davis.