Harold López-Nussa

Pianist Harold López-Nussa, born in Cuba, merges refined post-bop jazz phrasing with deep Cuban and Afro-Latin roots through his commanding keyboard work. He first drew notice by claiming top honors at the 2005 solo piano competition held during Switzerland’s Montreux Jazz Festival, an achievement that spotlighted early recordings such as 2007’s Canciones and 2013’s New Day. Partnerships with Christian Scott, Gilles Peterson, and Alune Wade followed, yet he maintained a steady output of his own inventive projects, among them the 2018 trio effort Un Dia Cualquiera and the 2020 quartet date Te Lo Dije. After completing a 2021 tour, he departed Cuba for France in 2022, joined the Blue Note roster, and delivered his label debut Timba a la Americana in August 2023.

Harold López-Nussa Torres entered the world in Havana in 1983 into a household steeped in music; both parents performed professionally, and his uncle Ernán Lopez-Nussa had already established himself as a respected pianist. Classical training began at age eight at the Manuel Saumell Elementary School of Music and continued at the Amadeo Roldán Conservatory before he completed studies at the Instituto Superior de Artes. Around age 18, jazz captured his primary artistic attention and has guided his creative path ever since.

Once formal education ended, López-Nussa attracted initial acclaim through tours alongside vocalist Omara Portuondo and a 2003 recording of Heitor Villa-Lobos’ Fourth Piano Concerto with Cuba’s National Symphony Orchestra. His standing rose further in 2005 when he secured both the First Prize and Audience Prize at Montreux’s Jazz Solo Piano Competition. Appearances on releases by guitarist Leo Brouwer, Gilles Peterson, and the ensemble Ninety Miles—with vibraphonist Stefon Harris, trumpeter Christian Scott, and tenor saxophonist David Sánchez—broadened his reach. The solo debut Canciones arrived in 2007, succeeded two years later by Herencia, then El Pais de las Maravillas in 2011 and New Day in 2013.

In 2015 López-Nussa joined Senegalese bassist/vocalist Alune Wade for the Afro-Latin project Havana - Paris - Dakar; the pair reunited the next year for Viaje, another Afro-Latin set that showcased his quartet featuring brother and drummer Ruy Adrián López-Nussa plus contributions from father Ruy Francisco López-Nussa, trumpeter Mayquel González, and percussionists Dreiser Durruthy and Adel González. The trio recording Un Dia Cualquiera, again with his brother and bassist Gaston Joya, surfaced in 2018. Te Lo Dije followed in 2020, once more highlighting the quartet alongside Cuban reggaeton singer Randy Malcom, French accordionist Vincent Peirani, singer Kelvis Ochoa, and genre-bending Cuban funk artist Cimafunk.

By mid-2021, with pandemic restrictions easing, López-Nussa returned to the road with his band for festival appearances. He relocated from Cuba to France in 2022 and signed with Blue Note. In 2023 he entered the studio with producer Michael League—composer, producer, and bassist with Snarky Puppy—to shape Timba a la Americana. The resulting album presents ten previously unrecorded pieces performed by a quartet comprising harmonica virtuoso Grégoire Maret, bassist Luques Curtis, conguero Bárbaro “Machito” Crespo, and brother Ruy Adrián López-Nussa on drums.