Biography
Mayra Caridad Valdés, a Cuban jazz vocalist, spent the bulk of her professional life on stage rather than in the studio, appearing regularly with Irakere as well as alongside her renowned sibling Chucho until she issued her first album in 2002. She entered the world on April 20, 1956, as the daughter of the celebrated Cuban jazz pianist Bebo Valdés, completed her training at Havana’s National Art School, and earned a choral-music diploma there in 1975. Her initial post-graduation role was as a musicologist working with Odilio Urfe, yet an invitation from Harry Belafonte to join him onstage during his 1981 Cuban concerts prompted her to shift permanently into performance. From that point forward she maintained an active international schedule, appearing as a featured soloist and as a member of various ensembles across Japan and Europe; she became a permanent fixture in Irakere in 1994 while also singing regularly with Chucho’s quartet. Jazzheads issued her debut solo recording, the ten-track La Diosa del Mar, in 2002, presenting an anthology of Afro-Cuban jazz standards, traditional folkloric pieces, and boleros.
Albums