Cuban trumpeter Yelfris Valdés releases incredible new album ‘For The Ones…’

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Cuban trumpeter Yelfris Valdés releases incredible new album ‘For The Ones…’

Now residing in London, Cuban-born trumpeter Yelfris Valdés has began making a strong name for himself over the past few years, performing alongside Quantic, Nubya Garcia, Michael Kiwanuka, Rokia Traoré, Dayme Arocena, and Chucho Valdés, as well as being featured on Yussef Kamaal’s groundbreaking 2016 album Black Focus. Now he has just released a brilliant new full-length album, titled For the Ones…, which combines his Cuban roots and Yoruba traditions mixed with the jazz and electronic music influences he’s been exposed to while living in the UK.

Inspired by electronica music greats like Jon Hassell, Bonobo and Aphex Twin, Valdés debut full-length album brilliantly fuses together live instrumentation, spacey electronics, hypnotic soundscapes, and complex harmonies, with Afro-Latin rhythms and shamanic chants. According to the trumpeter, in his own words “(he) worked deeply and meticulously to find a more layered sound including a trance feeling with grounded rhythms”.

On the 10-track recording, Valdés is backed by a solid cast of musicians including Al Macsween on electric piano, bassist Josh Barber, electronic beat maker Sylvain Couesmes, percussionist Ernesto Marichales, and drummer Dario Congedo. The trumpeter, who also adds vocals and plays flugelhorn on the album, features a number of special guests including Moroccan Guembri Master Simo Lagnawi on Gnawa influenced “Maktub” and Senegalese singer Modou Toure spiritual track “Ancestry”. Carmen Martorell adds spoken word lyrics to the appropriately titled song “Carmen,” and Modou Touré adds vocals to two of the tracks.

By layering and bringing together both his Cuban and Yoruba roots with more experimental and modern influences like electronic music, contemporary jazz, and London’s vibrant club culture, Valdés has truly created a masterpiece that pays homage to traditions from his heritage while looking forward musically into the future. As we enter the final months of the year, and the thoughts about “best albums” start to make their way into those year-end conversations, it will be very difficult to not have this album up there near the top of those lists.