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Ramon Valle
Ramon’s stage presence is commanding, whether within the ranks of an orchestra or leading a trio. His performances and stage presence are charismatic, his music – intoxicating. No longer a diamond-in-the-rough, he is the perfectly cut gem. “Sometimes I feel like a troubadour,” he says, “because I tell stories, but stories without words.”
Under the guidance and Management of world-renown Producer Suzi Reynolds, Valle’s career has been sculpted to not only showcase his versatility as a composer, arranger, and performer of his own works, but on his forthcoming release, also offers his own ‘take-offs’ on the great works of other artists, passionately interpreting the harmonies of Stevie Wonder, the poignant lyrics of Leonard Cohen and the spirit of John Coltrane.
Valle was only seven when he began studying the piano at the Escuela Nacional de Arte in his hometown of Holguín, Cuba. He later completed his advanced studies at the Escuela Nacional de Arte in Havana. After establishing himself on the jazz festival scene in Mexico, Bogota and Havana, the great Cuban pianist and founder of Irakere, Chucho Valdés, declared Ramon Valle “The greatest talents among our young pianists,” when introducing Ramon on his debut album, Levitando in 1993. Valle’s original composition, Levitando, has since become a well known Cuban anthem around the world.
A humble man with an infectious smile and authentic artistic nature, Valle has music deep in his soul. The rhythms of Africa that traveled to the Caribbean are entrenched within him, and are a major cornerstone to Valle’s Cuban culture. “Music is like a river,” he says. “You drink as much as your body needs. I take as much as is necessary to nourish the music and to be inspired. I drink from the river.”
Ramon Valle is signed to In+Out Records GmbH, a German-based independent label with distribution throughout Europe, the USA and other international countries. Ramon Valle’s ‘TAKE OFF will be released internationally in March 2015.
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Ramon Valle: The Amsterdam transplant remains rooted in Cuba
![Read "Ramon Valle: The Amsterdam transplant remains rooted in Cuba" reviewed by Joan Gannij](https://s3.amazonaws.com/allaboutjazz/photos/profile/musician/904d3eab92d902f1182dabc8ca27dad3.jpg)
by Joan Gannij
After transplanting himself to Amsterdam 20 years ago, Ramon Valle's island roots still run deep. Valle was raised in the eastern part of Cuba, in Holguin, in a musical family, with a trumpeter father, a mother who sang and recited poems, and five sisters; four who played piano, and another who was a multi-instumentalist, playing saxophone, clarinet and flute.. He started studying piano and trumpet at age seven, under the tutelage of his father, and muses. I was playing the ...
read more44 Voll-Damm Festival de Jazz de Barcelona: Francesco Tristano, Ramon Valle Trio con Jesse Van Ruller y Fred Hersch
![Read "44 Voll-Damm Festival de Jazz de Barcelona: Francesco Tristano, Ramon Valle Trio con Jesse Van Ruller y Fred Hersch" reviewed by Joan Fargas](https://s3.amazonaws.com/allaboutjazz/photos/profile/musician/904d3eab92d902f1182dabc8ca27dad3.jpg)
by Joan Fargas
Francesco Tristano44 Voll-Damm Festival Internacional de Jazz de BarcelonaL'Auditori--Sala 231 de octubre 2012El joven pianista Francesco Tristano fue el encargado de abrir el ciclo del festival de jazz de Barcelona llamado Clàssics en la sala de cámara de L'Auditori. Toda una declaración de principios para un interesante ciclo sin prejuicios que abre la puerta a propuestas que transitan por las relaciones entre jazz y música clásica. Conocedor de sus antecedentes, el público asistía ...
read more– THE GUARDIAN, LONDON
“Valle is equally adept at intensely swinging like Oscar Peterson – but with a groove that reflects the syncopation of the Afro-Cuban clave-playing pop music or reveling in the island’s many traditional rhythms. And like any of the pianists who record for ECM, Valle can draw the curtain down around himself and play powerfully introspective music.”