Chapotín: Cuba's greatest Trumpet Player?

Elpidio Chapotín Delgado is reputed to be one of the great Cuban trumpet players of all time. At the age of 62, he is still determined to take full advantage of life. He lives in a cozy apartment in Havana with his wife Gloria who has prepared a huge snack for us. It is as if we were an infantry battalion instead of merely four people.

Chapotín loves to talk. There is practically no need to ask him any questions because he steadily weaves memories, views, and anecdotes together. He moves easily from one musical period of his life to another. "One thing I can say is that I am lucky to have been practically the only musician who played with Gonzalo Roig* and who is still active as a performer today," he says before he quickly realizes that perhaps that was too absolute. He recalls the beginnings of Juan Formell, director of the famous band Los Van Van, when he was as bass player at the Habana Libre Hotel as well as and Chucho Valdés who played in Havana's now defunct Musical Theatre and then in the Orquesta de Música Moderna. "I learned from everybody: Formell, Chucho, Adolfo Guzmán, Rafael Somavilla, Tony Taño, Manuel Duchesne, Michel Legrand..." he continues as he recites the many outstanding Cuban directors and composers.

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