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Dave
Valentín Flautista
Dave Valentin
Flutist
 Born on April 29, 1952,
in New York's Bronx borough to parents who were from Mayaguez, Puerto Rico,
Valentin was surrounded by the music his parents listened to. The Valentin
household was filled with the sounds of Tito Rodriguez, Tito Puente, Machito and
others. He picked up bongos and congas as a child, and by his early teens, had
joined a Latin group as a timbales player. He performed with the group in New
York City's Latin nightclubs on the "cuchifrito" circuit, the workingclass dance
halls of New York. "Oh yes," he said in an interview with Fernando Gonzalez of
Knight-Ridder Newspapers, "I've done my three sets for $50 and leave the club at
6 a.m. Sunday morning and seeing the people in Harlem going to church as I'm
going home to sleep." He was accepted to New York's High School of Music and Art
where he studied percussion, but it was not until Valentin was 18 and in college
that he became interested in the flute.
A girl he wanted to meet played the flute, so Valentin borrowed one and asked
her to show him a few things. A month later, he played for her, but had become
so good that she got jealous, and his plan backfired. He didn't get the girl,
but continued to study the flute with Hubert Laws, a popular jazz flutist known
for his classical technique, and with a classical player, Hal Bennett. He took
up the saxophone for a while, but Laws convinced him to drop the saxophone and
focus his energies on the flute.
The young artist worked as a schoolteacher to pay the bills but continued to
play music, becoming one of New York's up-and-coming musicians. In the early
1970s, Valentin was playing with some of the hottest Latin bands in the city,
but it was his ability to cross over and play with big-name jazz artists like
singer Patti Austin, guitarist Lee Ritenour, and pianist Dave Grusin that got
him noticed.
Though of Puerto Rican descent, Valentin was known for his "willingness to
investigate and absorb any style of music," wrote Mark Holston in Americas. "I
... consider myself a world artist." He first mastered the common European flute
and then experimented with different models in the flute family from around the
world. He collected pan pipes from Bolivia, a bamboo bass flute from Peru, a pan
flute from Romania and various porcelain and wooden models from Thailand, Japan,
and elsewhere, and toured with more than a dozen various flutes. He mastered the
charanga, a Cuban music style that featured the flute, after diligently studying
the methods of Jose Fajardo, the king of the genre. He often used a Cuban rhythm
as the foundation for his take on a pop song, such as "Blackbird" by Paul
McCartney and John Lennon. Holston called the flutist "adept at mixing the
essence of Afro-Caribbean styles with self-penned songs, jazz standards and
world music anthems...."
All Music Guide to Jazz critic Scott Yanow noted that on Valentin's 1991
release, Musical Portraits, it was evident that Valentin "could become one of
the best jazz flutists," but that he had so far "not quite lived up to his
potential." Of Valentin's 1992 release, Red Sun, Yanow wrote that Valentin
seemed somewhat "controlled," despite some "passionate moments." Over all, he
called Red Sun a "relatively pleasing" CD.
In 1993, Valentin released Tropic Heat, his first Latin jazz album. Though he
had always "tried to include some Latin music in some way" on his previous
albums, he told Fernando Gonzalez of Knight-Ridder, he added that never wanted
to be "pigeonholed" as a strictly Latin artist. The record was a long time
coming for Valentin, who felt Puerto Rican rhythms and styles were sorely
overlooked by Puerto Rican musicians more clearly influenced by the sounds of
Cuba. Valentin teamed up with up-and-coming Latin stars like Dominican
saxophonist Mario Rivera, conguero Jerry Gonzalez, trumpeter Charlie Sepulveda,
saxophonist David Sanchez, and trombonist Angel "Papo" Vazquez to record. The
result was a "mature, seamless blend of jazz and Afro-Caribbean elements," wrote
Gonzalez. On the album, Valentin paid tribute to his childhood hero, bandleader
and vocalist Tito Rodriguez, with a version of the song "Bello Amanecer." Yanow
called Tropic Heat "one of [Valentin's] best," and proof that Valentin
"continues to grow as a player."
In addition to his usual position as leader and front man, Valentin has also
been sideman to some legendary jazz musicians. He was musical director for Tito
Puente, his childhood idol, and considered playing with McCoy Tyner "like being
in heaven," he said in his Concord Records biography. He played at Dizzy
Gillespie's seventieth birthday party and has been a guest with Machito, Ray
Barretto, Celia Cruz, Michel Camilo, and Herbie Mann.
Grammy Award Winner
Dave Valentin
Saturday, January 27, 2007
Antlers Hilton Hotel, Downtown.
6:30pm : Artist reception, VIP Seating
8:00pm : Concert.
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