Bebo Valdes, a pioneer in Cuban music and important individual in the spread of Latin jazz across the United States, passed away a year ago on March 22. His influence on jazz however was quite strange, given the limited amount of times he even went to America. The spread of his influence shows how the power of popular producers and record labels can allow for the spread of one’s music. The reality is that you do not have to be popular amongst everyone to be influential. You simply have to be popular amongst everyone who goes on to become popular to become influential.

A clear example of Bebo spreading his influence during his limited trips to the United States came in 1950, when he had a couple of recording sessions with Nat King Cole. By the 1950’s, Cole was one of the most popular jazz musicians in the United States and was the leader and pianist of an extremely large jazz band. The interaction between this two great musicians perhaps was an important, but perhaps unnoticed event in jazz history and could have played a role in spreading the Cuban and Latin jazz that Bebo was responsible of making.

Going to the National Jazz Museum allowed for a pretty unique experience not just because it exposed me to jazz, a genre of music I do not actively seek out often, but also because it made more aware of the great but perhaps relatively little known musicians in jazz history, such as Charlie Parker or of course Bebo Valdes. After all, not everyone can be as well known or entrenched in pop music in Miles Davis. There needs to be pillars to music, a backbone that drives and pushes music forward. It was clear after our trip the museum that Bebo was definitely responsible for being one of the pillars of the house of jazz music and his influence can still be felt in music, whether it be Latin jazz or Cuban music.