Biography
Hilario Durán, a pianist born in Cuba yet long resident in Canada and honored with a Juno Award, merges Afro-Cuban traditions with an acutely harmonic approach shaped by contemporary and post-bop jazz. He first rose to notice in the 1970s when he replaced Chucho Valdés at the keyboard in Cuba’s Orquesta Cubana de Música Moderna. A subsequent decade in Arturo Sandoval’s group placed him alongside Dizzy Gillespie, Michel Legrand, and additional collaborators before he established himself in Canada. Tight creative ties with flutist and saxophonist Jane Bunnett have continued through the years, accompanied by well-received recordings such as the 1999 album Habana Nocturna, the Juno-winning New Danzon, and From the Heart, itself a Juno recipient and Grammy nominee that showcased his Latin Jazz Big Band. A return to Cuba produced the all-star set Contumbao in 2019, and he again directed his large ensemble on the 2023 album Cry Me a River.
Born in Havana in 1953, Durán absorbed the example of Cuban piano masters Ernesto Lecuona, Frank Emilio Flynn, and Peruchin. He completed his studies at the esteemed Amadeo Roldan Music Institute in Havana, whose alumni include Chucho Valdés, Paquito D'Rivera, and Gonzalo Rubalcaba. Additional training came from Evaristo Aparicio in tumbao, Germán Piferrer in composition and conducting, and Guillermo Barreto in orchestral techniques. His early group Los D'Siempre concentrated less on folkloric or heavily polyrhythmic Cuban forms than on broadening the idiom’s harmonic range through jazz elements. The 1980 defections of D'Rivera and Sandoval, together with Irakere’s first impact on American audiences, prompted Durán to chart a similar course. He entered Sandoval’s band in 1981 and stayed nine years, appeared with Dizzy Gillespie & the United Nations Orchestra, and collaborated with composer and arranger Michel Legrand. In 1990 he launched his own ensemble, Perspectiva, which toured Latin America and Europe, while also serving as pianist for Jane Bunnett’s award-winning Spirits of Havana project.
After a concluding European tour with Perspectiva in 1995, Durán relocated to Toronto with his family. His solo debut, Francisco's Song, followed in 1996 and included Bunnett along with bassist Alain Caron and guitarist Sonny Greenwich. Since then he has remained central to the Canadian jazz community, joining the faculty at Humber College as adjunct piano professor and ensemble director. Among the many artists with whom he has worked are Tata Güines, Changuito, Horacio "El Negro" Hernández, Jorge Reyes, Roberto Occhipinti, Larry Cramer, John Patitucci, Michael Brecker, Regina Carter, Dave Valentin, Juan Pablo Torres, John Benitez, Dafnis Prieto, Hugh Marsh, Carlos "Patato" Valdés, and Leny Andrade, as well as the classical groups Quartetto Gelato and the Gryphon Trio. His second solo recording, Killer Tumbao, appeared in 1997 and featured his Cuban Jazz All-Stars once more with Bunnett, plus timbales player Jose Luis Quintana Fuerte and conguero Tata Güines. Two years later came the small-group session Habana Nocturna, again with Bunnett, trumpeter Larry Cramer, bassist Roberto Occhipinti, drummer Horacio "El Negro" Hernandez, and conguero Rodolfo Valdes Terry. A first Juno nomination arrived in 2003 for Havana Remembered, and the 2005 award went to New Danzon, which again featured Hernandez and Occhipinti.
Durán assembled his Latin Jazz Big Band in Toronto in 2005, drawing on both Canadian and Cuban personnel, and collaborated with Russia’s Globalis Symphony Orchestra under arrangements by Roberto Occhipinti. The following year the big band appeared on From the Heart, which included guest spots by D'Rivera and Hernandez plus vocals from Dione Taylor; the album earned a Grammy nomination for Best Solo Jazz Instrumental Performance for “Paq Man” and captured the Juno for Contemporary Jazz Album of the Year. Shortly afterward he received the 2007 Chico O'Farrill Lifetime Achievement Award. The trio date Motion surfaced in 2010 with bassist Roberto Occhipinti and drummer Mark Kelso. He rejoined soprano saxophonist and flutist Bunnett for Cuban Rhapsody in 2011 and then issued the holiday recording Christmas Salsa.
In 2016 Durán went back to Cuba for sessions at the historic EGREM studio with an all-star roster of local players. The resulting album Contumbao, released in 2019, featured guitarist Jorge Luis Valdes, bassist Jorge Reyes, conguero Jorge Lius Torres, vocalist Brenda Navarette, and others. That same year he composed the score for director Sergio Navarretta’s film The Cuban. Front Steet Duets, a duo project with pianist David Virelles, appeared in 2022. The next year he once more led his Latin Jazz Big Band on Cry Me a River, which spotlighted reedist D'Rivera, drummer Hernandez, and the Canadian Afro-Cuban jazz duo OKAN.
Born in Havana in 1953, Durán absorbed the example of Cuban piano masters Ernesto Lecuona, Frank Emilio Flynn, and Peruchin. He completed his studies at the esteemed Amadeo Roldan Music Institute in Havana, whose alumni include Chucho Valdés, Paquito D'Rivera, and Gonzalo Rubalcaba. Additional training came from Evaristo Aparicio in tumbao, Germán Piferrer in composition and conducting, and Guillermo Barreto in orchestral techniques. His early group Los D'Siempre concentrated less on folkloric or heavily polyrhythmic Cuban forms than on broadening the idiom’s harmonic range through jazz elements. The 1980 defections of D'Rivera and Sandoval, together with Irakere’s first impact on American audiences, prompted Durán to chart a similar course. He entered Sandoval’s band in 1981 and stayed nine years, appeared with Dizzy Gillespie & the United Nations Orchestra, and collaborated with composer and arranger Michel Legrand. In 1990 he launched his own ensemble, Perspectiva, which toured Latin America and Europe, while also serving as pianist for Jane Bunnett’s award-winning Spirits of Havana project.
After a concluding European tour with Perspectiva in 1995, Durán relocated to Toronto with his family. His solo debut, Francisco's Song, followed in 1996 and included Bunnett along with bassist Alain Caron and guitarist Sonny Greenwich. Since then he has remained central to the Canadian jazz community, joining the faculty at Humber College as adjunct piano professor and ensemble director. Among the many artists with whom he has worked are Tata Güines, Changuito, Horacio "El Negro" Hernández, Jorge Reyes, Roberto Occhipinti, Larry Cramer, John Patitucci, Michael Brecker, Regina Carter, Dave Valentin, Juan Pablo Torres, John Benitez, Dafnis Prieto, Hugh Marsh, Carlos "Patato" Valdés, and Leny Andrade, as well as the classical groups Quartetto Gelato and the Gryphon Trio. His second solo recording, Killer Tumbao, appeared in 1997 and featured his Cuban Jazz All-Stars once more with Bunnett, plus timbales player Jose Luis Quintana Fuerte and conguero Tata Güines. Two years later came the small-group session Habana Nocturna, again with Bunnett, trumpeter Larry Cramer, bassist Roberto Occhipinti, drummer Horacio "El Negro" Hernandez, and conguero Rodolfo Valdes Terry. A first Juno nomination arrived in 2003 for Havana Remembered, and the 2005 award went to New Danzon, which again featured Hernandez and Occhipinti.
Durán assembled his Latin Jazz Big Band in Toronto in 2005, drawing on both Canadian and Cuban personnel, and collaborated with Russia’s Globalis Symphony Orchestra under arrangements by Roberto Occhipinti. The following year the big band appeared on From the Heart, which included guest spots by D'Rivera and Hernandez plus vocals from Dione Taylor; the album earned a Grammy nomination for Best Solo Jazz Instrumental Performance for “Paq Man” and captured the Juno for Contemporary Jazz Album of the Year. Shortly afterward he received the 2007 Chico O'Farrill Lifetime Achievement Award. The trio date Motion surfaced in 2010 with bassist Roberto Occhipinti and drummer Mark Kelso. He rejoined soprano saxophonist and flutist Bunnett for Cuban Rhapsody in 2011 and then issued the holiday recording Christmas Salsa.
In 2016 Durán went back to Cuba for sessions at the historic EGREM studio with an all-star roster of local players. The resulting album Contumbao, released in 2019, featured guitarist Jorge Luis Valdes, bassist Jorge Reyes, conguero Jorge Lius Torres, vocalist Brenda Navarette, and others. That same year he composed the score for director Sergio Navarretta’s film The Cuban. Front Steet Duets, a duo project with pianist David Virelles, appeared in 2022. The next year he once more led his Latin Jazz Big Band on Cry Me a River, which spotlighted reedist D'Rivera, drummer Hernandez, and the Canadian Afro-Cuban jazz duo OKAN.
Albums
