CHRISTIAN VALDÉS

ABOUT

Christian Valdés is a talented pianist from Cali, Colombia. He comes from a family of renowned Salsa musicians, which led him to be a very successful and active musician in the Latin Scene in America. by the age of 16 he was already performing and touring with numerous Salsa artists mainly from Colombia, Cuba and Puerto Rico, among this list, Richie Valdés, Andy Montañez, Ismael Miranda, Tito Nieves, Guayacan, Luisito Carrion, Willie Gonzalez, Rey Ruiz, and many more.

At the age of 19 Christian became part of the renowned band “Grupo Niche”, when on tour, in one of his visits to Dallas, he auditioned for the Jazz Piano program in the University of North Texas, which amazed by his talent, offered him a scholarship to pursue a Bachelor of Arts in Jazz Studies. Christian moved to Texas in 2011 and since then, he has had the privilege of studying with different mentors and very well-known professionals such as Manuel Valera, Alan Ferber, Stefan Karlsson, Michael Palma and Sergio Pamies. He has performed and recorded with different artists such as Ricky Martin, Diego “El Cigala”, Arturo Sandoval, Nestor Torres, Luis Conte, Karen Briggs, Brad Leali, among many others. Christian has been awarded 9 Downbeat awards in the category of best Latin Jazz Group with his own Sextet, and best soloist with some of his own compositions. 

Christian was part of the Jazz Studies Faculty at the University of Texas at Arlington. He recently moved to New York to work on his doctorate at NYU and remains being an active pianist, arranger and composer, as well as a touring musician.