Pianist Ramón Valle was born in 1964 and has been living in Holland since 1998. He is not just a brillant technician with a direct attack and the ability to create the finest nuances of sound, but is also a full-blooded musician who understands how to use the pianos keys to open his heart and sol. It requires extraordinary musicianship to be able to play in this way: his sound is never sickly or too emotionally-laden. Seldom has the jazz piano sounded so warm and thus so free from from frippery. Valle's piano style can be considered particularly "authentic". He has a well-developed approach could be no-one else's, and which comes from having a grat self-awareness. And he treads a narrow path, never traying into excess with his musical beauty: he knows how to play "beautifully" because he knows how to evoid making his music sound kitsch.
Valle himself has confirmed that despite his background as a Cuban musician, he doesn't want to sound 100% typically Cuban but 100% typically Valle. Latin jazz which doesn't descend into cliché is his aim. It's most apparent in his piano solo pieces: no sweet playing around with his right hand and no excessive rhythmic trumps. Valle shows his Cuban identity between the lines of his musical style. His piano approach is technically brillantwith a lyrical and melodic litheness. A rhythmic subtlety forms an implicit foundation - but that comes from the inner elements of his compact, personal approach, and not from external effects.
Six of the 12 tracks on this CD are original compositions. The six others, which alternate with thew originals, being by the famous Cuban composer Ernesto Lecuona (1895-1963). Lecuona was a piano virtuoso who was to Cuba what Duke Ellington was to american culture. He left a catalogue of 176 solo piano pieces, 406 songs and 37 orchestral works.
Tracks
01. Andalucía (Ernesto Lecuona)
02. Andar Por Dentro (Ramón Valle)
03. La Comparsa (Ernesto Lecuona)
04. Son – A – Tina (Ramón Valle)
05. Rumba Mejoral (Ernesto Lecuona)
06. Free At Last (Ramón Valle)
07. Siboney (Ernesto Lecuona)
08. Levitando (Ramón Valle)
09. No Me Mires Ni Me Hables (Ernesto Lecuona)
10. Reverso (Ramón Valle)
11. Aquella Tarde (Ernesto Lecuona)
12. Memorias (Ramón Valle)
RAMÓN VALLE piano
Recorded May 10-11, 2005 at Bauer Studios, Ludwigsburg
ACT - ACT 9753-2 Germany