La Tunas, Cuba, 1951-Havana, Cuba, 1992. Pianist and composer. Emiliano Salvador is one of those artist admired by all musicians and specially those playing the piano; he is what American Jazz men call a pianist`s pianist. Salvador has turned into a legend, not only among Cubans but also within the Afro-Caribbean and Latin Jazz scopes.

He has received posthumous homage from lots of luminaries like Bobby Carcases who saluted him with a CD (Jazz Timbero); Paquito de Rivera who also recorded another CD to revere Emiliano (40 Years of Cuban Jam Session) and Orlando Valle “Maraca”, the talented flutist who named his group “Otra visión” after Salvador’s first LP “Nueva Visión”.

Chucho Valdés expressed to the press that Salvador was “the best pianist of his generation”. There's a full-page photo of Salvador in the Latin Jazz Dictionary of Nar Chediak (Madrid, 1998) and two articles in Latin Beat Magazine (L.A, California) about him.

Nowadays, Emiliano is source of inspiration for Cuban young Jazz pianists, citing Ernán López Nussa, Ramoncito Valle, Roberto Julio Carcassés, Robertico Fonseca and so many others.

After studying at the National School of Arts, Salvador becomes, at the age of 19, the youngest member of Grupo de Experimentación Sonora (GES) organized by ICAIC (Cuban Film Industry) and directed by Leo Brouwer. Although the group worked on and tested all kinds of music, achieving interesting fusions, there was another Jazz group, spontaneously-formed inside the GES with Leo Acosta, Eduardo Ramos, Leo Pimentel, Sergio Vitier and Emiliano.

During those years Emiliano studied orchestration and composition with Federico Smith and Leo Brouwer and studied Piano with María Antonieta Henríquez. He also composed the music for several films.

When GES dissolved in 1978, Emiliano gets involved with the group formed by Pablo Milanés with Eduardo Ramos and Frank Bejerano. With this group he made several recordings and played the piano accompanying figures like Sonia Silvestre, Soledad Bravo, Daniel Viglietti, Silvio Rodríguez, Noel Nicola, Chico Buarque and the vocal quartet MPB 4.

In 1978, Emiliano recorded his first LP “Nueva Visión” and it’s precisely this work what makes him known worldwide.

His second LP “Emiliano Salvador” was recorded in 1980. In the 80’s Salvador created his own group and recorded another LP “Emiliano Salvador y su grupo” in 1986, “Una mañana de domingo” in 1988 and “Ayer y Hoy” in 1992. They toured and offered concerts in Europe, Latin America and Canada, attending also Jazz festivals in Havana, Montreal, Ottawa, Caracas, Moscow, Tbilisi and Bratislava.

He met and played with such groups and musicians like Dizzy Gillespie, Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers, Brandford Marsalis, Freddie Hubbard, Bobby McFerrin, Jack De Johnette, Manhattan Transfer, Woody Shaw, Larry Coryell, Steve Swallow, Jimmy Smith, Booy Watson, Joe Henderson, Chico Freeman, Airto Moreira and Nana Vasconcelos, Andy and Jerry González, Billy Cobham, René McLean, Ismael Miranda, Dave Valentín, Louie Ramírez, Mario Rivera, Nicky Marrero and so many others.

Emiliano Salvador was not only a brilliant soloist and improviser but also a subtle composer, an innate melodic player who also ruled and played with rhythm and tempo, thanks to his excellent skills as drummer and percussionist. Emiliano Salvador was the first Latin American Jazz musician invited to the concert “Pianisimo”, sponsored by the Belles Arts Palace in Ottawa.

In Havana, Emiliano seems to have picked Acapulco theater as a sort of personal headquarters, where he performed live, rehearsed and made recordings with his own group to later analyze the work carried out.

Selection of Works
Tema con bongó; De castillos, princesas y puntos suspensivos; Historia de la niña que le devolvió el tiempo al tiempo; Espiral; Sonbanchero (Cumbanchero) version; Almendra (Danzón) version;Para luego es tarde (Danzón); Samba; Tren a ciudad gótica; La niña que le devolvió el tiempo al tiempo;Viernes de ciudad; Campanero; A mi hermanito lindo.

See discography in www.discuba.com