Felix Contreras for NPR – It’s not an exaggeration to say Cuba has produced it’s share and more of amazing pianists whose influence reach far beyond the shores of the island nation. There is a long and storied history of pianists who syncretized the late 19th century European piano tradition with the influence of jazz and Afro-Cuban culture while playing with the discipline of the Russian piano instructors who came to teach at Cuban academies in the early 1960s.
Pianist and composer Harold Lopez- Nussa is not only a product of that lineage; his extended family is a minor musical dynasty. His uncle Ernan Lopez-Nussa made a name for himself in the early 1970s as a self-styled rule breaker, influenced as much by Herbie Hancock as Ernesto Lecuona. Harold’s father and brother are both drummers and percussionists, and his mother taught piano.
Amid a crowded field of contemporaries, Harold holds his own and more. His new album, Un Dia Calquier, is the best example yet of his talents as a player and writer. On this week’s show, we spent a very nice bit of time talking music and getting very nerdy about the intricacies of Cuban music.