Hilario Durán is one of the four most important Cuban pianists, composers and arrangers to come out of Cuba. Along with his multiple Juno Awards and Grammy nomination for his previous big band record, From The Heart, Hilario has received the Latin Jazz USA Chico O’Farrill Lifetime Achievement Award, made many top ten favourite jazz albums of the year lists, and also achieved distinction in the classical and chamber music worlds having been commissioned to write a symphony for the Toronto Symphony Orchestra.
Durán honed his craft working with the Orquesta Cubana de Música Moderna in Havana which he inherited from Chucho Valdés. He credits being able to study the scores of the great Cuban arrangers as a major leap forward in the development of his writing skills. Hilario went on to record hundreds of albums at the famed EGREM studios in Havana as leader and arranger before touring internationally with artists like Dizzy Gillespie, Arturo Sandoval and many others.
On his latest big band release, Cry Me A River, Hilario Durán brings the full scope of his artistry, the depth of knowledge of musical genres in the perfect storm of big artistry.
The nine works on this recording are born of Durán’s Afro-Cuban cultural topography but are also informed by his gifts for bending tradition and infusing his arrangements with unfettered improvisation.