Piano Afro-Cubano: From Havana to the Bay
Clinician(s): Rebeca Mauleón
Educator, pianist, composer and author Rebeca Mauleón shares the lineage of the island’spiano tradition going back to the 19th century, and traces the evolution of Cuban popular music through its arrival to the San Francisco Bay Area. The pianists of Cuba have defined and shaped a musical lexicon that has witnessed a remarkable transformation in the postmodern era, one that draws simultaneously from European, Afro-Caribbean and American musical idioms, and pushes the envelope into the avant-garde.
For this CMEA presentation, Mauleón will share a treasure trove of definitive recordings by noted Cuban pianists, highlighting seminal works and stylistic innovations that have led tothe amalgam that is Afro-Cuban piano technique into the 21st century. For over 30 years,Mauleón has carved her place in the Afro-Cuban musical canon by championing the performance practice as well as the repertoire of Cuba, not to mention the contributions of her most influential mentors and teachers, among them Chucho Valdés himself, with whom Mauleón has co-authored the 2018 publication, Decoding Afro-Cuban Jazz: The Music of Chucho Valdés & Irakere. We invite the Bay Area education community to learn more about the legacy of Cuban “pianism” as we celebrate the lineage and legacy of Afro-Cuban piano technique.
Rebeca Mauleón is an internationally renowned musician, recording artist and educator specializing in Afro-Caribbean and Latin jazz music. She is the author of several acclaimed texts on Cuban music, including the recent book co-authored with legendary Cuban pianist Chucho Valdés entitled Decoding Afro-Cuban Jazz (Sher Music, 2018). Mauleón is professor of the Roots Jazz & American Music (RJAM) program at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, a tenured professor at City College of San Francisco, and is Director of Education at SFJAZZ. She is also an accomplished lecturer and clinician specializing in Latin American music and performance practice.
Session Handouts