MALTA JAZZ 2019

Winner of six GRAMMY® and three Latin GRAMMY® Awards, the Cuban pianist, composer and arranger Chucho Valdés is the most influential figure in modern Afro-Cuban jazz. A protean performer, as comfortable offering solo performances as leading small and large ensembles, his most recent project, Jazz Batá 2, is an exceptional work in which he revisits an idea he first explored in 1972: a piano jazz trio featuring batá drums in place of the conventional trap set. The batá are the sacred, hourglass shaped drums used in the ritual music of the Yoruba religion, better known as Santeria. Released on November 16, 2018, Jazz Batá 2 marks Chucho’s debut on Mack Avenue Records.

Jazzmeia Horn is an American jazz singer and songwriter of African ancestry. She won the 2015 Thelonious Monk Institute International Jazz Competition in 2015. She has been compared to jazz vocalist such as Betty Carter, Sarah Vaughan, and Nancy Wilson.In 2017 she released her first album. Entitled « A Social Call », it was ranked the number 1 album for 2017 on the JazzWeek charts ! During the relevant tour she played in U.S.A., Asia (Macau) and Europe (London, Paris and Milan). Subsequently, « A Social Call » would earn Jazzmeia her first Grammy nomination in 2018 and she had a second one early this year in 2020. She performed at the 60th Grammy Award Ceremony and was met with much admiration by the audience.