PLAYLIST:
PIANO CUBANO

June 1, 2021 | by Rebeca Mauleón

Harold López-Nussa

This week's Virtual San Francisco Jazz Festival begins with an exclusive concert by Harold López-Nussa and his band, filmed in Havana. SFJAZZ Director of Education Rebeca Mauleón curated this playlist highlighting the greatest Cuban pianists.

Since the late 19th century, Cuban pianists and composer/bandleaders have produced some of the most influential repertoire to emerge from the island, and have shaped the stylistic evolution of both traditional and contemporary popular music well into the 21st century. The following playlist presents a partial glimpse into the vast repertoire of some of Cuba’s most prolific piano titans, beginning with the danzas of Ignacio Cervantes, through the generation of “young lions” cultivated in Havana’s conservatories. 

Originally posted on August 2, 2016