Chucho Valdés 85th Birthday Celebration

Chucho Valdés, the pioneering Afro-Cuban jazz pianist and founder of the legendary band Irakere, celebrates his 85th birthday with a special concert at the Music Center at Strathmore. The performance traces a career that helped define modern Afro-Cuban jazz, from Valdés’s groundbreaking work with Irakere—which revolutionized Latin jazz in the early 1970s by fusing Afro-Cuban ritual music, popular styles, jazz, rock, and classical elements—to his more recent collaborations. In particular, his 2025 album *Cuba and Beyond*, recorded with the Royal Quartet, continues his exploration of Cuban musical heritage and is likely to be represented in the evening’s program. The concert serves as both a birthday celebration and a milestone retrospective of Valdés’s enduring influence on jazz.

When: October 18, 2026.
Showtimes: Not listed.
Venue: The Music Center at Strathmore, North Bethesda, Maryland.
Tickets: Price not available at the time of listing.
Lineup: Chucho Valdés, piano; his recent work has featured the Royal Quartet, though the full performing lineup for this concert is not specified.
Run time: Not specified.
Ages: Not specified.
Accessibility: Not specified.
Note: The concert highlights Valdés’s decades-long impact on Afro-Cuban jazz, spanning his early days with Irakere through his latest album *Cuba and Beyond*.