Manuel Valera
BIO: Born and raised in Havana, Cuba, Grammy nominated pianist and composer Manuel Valera is a Guggenheim Fellow who has recorded 13 CDs as a bandleader with touring projects ranging from his Grammy nominated group New Cuban Express to modern contemporary jazz trio to solo piano. Jazz critic Howard Mandel claims that “it’s an unalloyed pleasure to discover a young man so accomplished that his potential seems boundless. Pianist-composer, Manuel Valera is indeed, prime mover of this Forma Nueva.”
Valera has recorded or performed with Arturo Sandoval, Paquito D’Rivera, Brian Lynch, Dafnis Prieto, Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, Jeff “Tain” Watts, John Benitez, Samuel Torres, Joel Frahm, Yosvany Terry, John Pattitucci, and classical violin virtuoso Joshua Bell among many others. He is the recipient of many composition grants — most notably he has received three New Jazz Works awards from Chamber Music America, the ASCAP Young Jazz Composer Award and twice been commissioned by the Dranoff International Piano Foundation. Valera has received commissions from PBS, Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, Bacardi, and the Dranoff International Two Piano Foundation. Valera has travelled the world numerous times over, performing in more than 30 countries.
“He leaves no doubt that he’s destined to play a role in the future of jazz. Valera shows a keen jazz vocabulary, a gift for creating grooves that invite stellar solo flights from his collaborators and the nerve to romance a melody when it suits him.”
–Philip van Vleck, Billboard