Alfredo Rodriguez & Pedrito Martinez

Famed for his attacking, take-no-prisoners playing style, Cuban-born pianist and composer Alfredo Rodriguez has a back story that has become the stuff of legend: the kid who, without constant access to a piano, practiced on scales he'd painted on the family dinner table; who, aged 19, represented Cuba in the International Solo Piano Competition at the 2016 Montreux Jazz Festival, just happening to entertain a crowd that included Quincy Jones, who was so bowled over he encouraged his permanent relocation from embargoed Cuba to America. GRAMMY-nominated, the veteran of an NPR Tiny Desk concert, the recipient of critical praise including comparisons to early Bill Evans and Art Tatum, Rodriguez now sounds distinctively like himself.