I remember I started to transcribe the music, stopping, rewinding – it was pretty crazy now that I think back to it! The album was a cassette, as we didn’t have CDs then. At that time it blew my mind – every time I listened to it I thought ‘how is it possible to play trumpet like this?’ I was a beginner and only studying classical and I remember thinking, ‘if I could play like this guy I could be one of the best’.

My first jazz album was Think of One by Wynton Marsalis. I discovered jazz when I was about 12 through my teacher, Alexis Baro. I studied at an arts school from the age of 10, but we were only focusing on classical music. YV: Timba which is like salsa but more aggressive. LJN: What kind of music did you grow up with? Cuban musicians often see themselves as the best in the world and we are proud of that, but I learnt that this was not always the case, that there are many amazing musicians everywhere sometimes we don’t know what is happening outside. And it was different, in a good way the people were different, the music, and I had to start speaking English. YV: It was a pretty exciting experience, as at that time it was very hard to travel if you were from Cuba, most people couldn’t afford it.

LJN: What was it like, leaving Cuba for the first time? I was really nervous because I had to play a solo on trumpet and trombone, and there was only one saxophonist playing all the saxophones and Carlos Maza playing everything, piano, saxophones, clarinet, bass, singing – it was incredible. There were 11,000 people and I was shaking a lot. I remember the first gig, it was at Jazz à Vienne. I was playing trombone, trumpet and minor percussion.

YV: I left for the first time when I was 16 to play at festivals in France like Jazz à Vienne11and Jazz in Marciac with Carlos Maza. Yelfris Valdés: I was born in Havana in 1983. LondonJazz News: Where are you from in Cuba? One of his forthcoming engagements is in the Cuban band for Carlos Acosta’s Cubania at the Royal Opera House, which opens on 27th July. In this interview with Jennie Cashman Wilson, with whom he has been woring on the Philippa Schuyler Project, he introduces himself, talks about the roots of his inspiration, and gives his first impressions of the London music scene. “I’ve been working non-stop since I got here.” The Cuban trumpeter Yelfris Valdés has been playing in all kinds of contexts since settling in London just nine months ago.

Cubania royal opera house