Cuban pianist and composer Alejandro Falcón lives as if music were a constant urgency: between albums, concerts, presentations, surrounded by talented colleagues, playing... creating. He always has a thousand and one projects to tell us about. Now we're talking about the concert he'll be throwing this Friday afternoon at the Pabellón Cuba in Havana, as part of the International Jazz Day celebrations.

“With my group, Alejandro Falcón y Cuba Dentro, we'll be presenting a repertoire that spans my discography: songs from when we recorded our first album, Claroscuro, such as Caribeña and Danzando entre puentes, one of the main danzones we always perform. We'll also be performing songs from our most recent discography, such as Vals para Oshun and Mambo de Pueblo Nuevo, which is featured on the DVD and album Alejandro Falcón y Cuba Dentro Live en Havana.

Which musicians will be accompanying you on stage?

“I've invited Ana Irma Pereyó, an excellent singer, with whom I made a great album two years ago, and who received several nominations for Cubadisco 2024 with her album Canto. Maestro Robertico García, founder of Afrocuba, will be there. He's been one of Cuba's great jazz musicians for many years, with a vast history of working with the most important artists. He'll be performing with us a piece I wrote for Ruy López-Nussa titled Tambores en Colores (Drums in Color). I'll also be joined by Arnulfo Guerra on bass, Ruy López-Nussa on drums, and José Julián Morejón Pino on congas. Eduardo Sandoval, an important Cuban trombonist and musician with whom I've been collaborating for years, has been a pianist on his discography, and has participated in several of my concerts. Maestro Javier Zalba, formerly a member of Irakere, is another guest. It's an honor for me to collaborate with these great musicians.

"Other guests will continue to join us, who are musicians, including students, some of my students also from the National School of Art, who I have been inviting, if they come, they will also go up on stage, because we are going to do a kind of jam session at the end.”

With this concert, you join in the celebrations for International Jazz Day. However, your musical work is very diverse. Would you define yourself as a jazz musician?

“I define myself as a Cuban musician. My strength is Cuban music, it's what I've always tried to do. I had the opportunity to study at the National Art School and the Higher Institute of Art, where I primarily studied composition, classical and concert music, and composition for symphony orchestras. But I've always kept an interest in Cuban music, ever since I was a child, living in Matanzas with my father, David Falcón García.

“My dad taught me to play the guitar. My mom studied painting; she wasn't a musician, but there was always an artistic atmosphere in my house. When I was 3 or 4 years old, I listened to Emiliano Salvador and Chucho Valdés… on a record player my mom had brought from the Soviet Union. I was already starting to hear that music, Oscar de León, Benny Moret, Bola de Nieve, Ignacio Villa. My dad really liked Cuban music, and that's what I've always tried to defend: Cuban music, with the influences of jazz, a very important genre, a 20th-century trend that influenced the entire world and that, furthermore, gives you the freedom to improvise and to socialize with other musicians.

“The harmonic development of jazz is very important for a musician who is going to perform other genres, even in concert music, classical music. There were 20th-century influences in Igor Stravinsky. You can name many composers who also drew from this source. It's what I've always tried to do: draw from different sources, and jazz is one of the main ones. But I consider myself a 21st-century Cuban musician, who tries to defend Cuban music. That's why my group is called Cubadentro, and why my albums are based on Cuban music. The music I've written, whether symphonic or chamber, is based on Cuban music.

"The album trilogy itself, Clásico entre puentes, which I made with Iván Valiente, which is all chamber music, includes the Cuatro estaciones matanceras, which are based on Vivaldi's seasons and also on Cuban music. They have a rumba, a danzón... That's what I always try to achieve, even though I'm doing a concert genre, that also has the influence of Cuban music."

What other projects are you currently working on?

"I continue working with my group Alejandro Falcón and Cubadentro. We're currently working on the music for the CD Renacer, which we just released on all digital platforms. It's already out on Spotify and iTunes, it's on YouTube, and it's being heard all over the world. We released it with the record label Producciones Colibrí, with whom I already have several productions. It's the music for the soap opera, which was very well received. I recorded it with many guests, but the foundation is with my quartet Cubadentro.

"Throughout this year, we'll also be working on the music for the triptych Clásico entre puentes (Classic Between Bridges), preparing another album with Iván Valiente, featuring six Baroque concertos, also influenced by Cuban music, plus an overture I made dedicated to Matanzas, as a continuation of this triptych.

“I'm continuing with the Estrellas de Buenavista and more. We toured Europe at the beginning of the year, performed in several important theaters in Spain, at the Kursaal in Donostia (San Sebastián), at the Baluarte Theater in Pamplona, in Barcelona, Madrid, and Tenerife. I gave a master class at El Sauzal, where I also presented music from my discography. I did a mini-concert, presented my book, Danzando entre puentes, and now we'll be at the Teatro de San José in Costa Rica, at the University of Medellín in Colombia, and in Bogotá. Then we'll do another tour this summer. I'm happy to collaborate with these great musicians: Maestro Pancho Amad, Javier Zalba, Calunga, Terry, Robertico García on trumpet, Kiko… I'm also already preparing a physical release of Renacer's music for yearend, which I want to do at Fine Arts Museum. I have other recording projects already in the works to close out a busy year, but I'm super happy, and everything is going wonderfully.

Translated by Amilkal Labañino / CubaSí Translation Staff