Julio Cueva ( Trinidad, Cuba, 12 April 1897 –

Havana Havana (; ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.trumpeter The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz musical ensemble, ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest Register (music), register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitche ...

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

and

band leader A bandleader is the leader of a music group such as a dance band, rock or pop band or jazz quartet. The term is most commonly used with a group that plays popular music as a small combo or a big band, such as one which plays jazz, blues, rhyth ...

. He was an important figure in the spread of Cuban popular music in the 1930s.

Life and career

Cueva played

cornet The cornet (, ) is a brass instrument similar to the trumpet but distinguished from it by its conical bore, more compact shape, and mellower tone quality. The most common cornet is a transposing instrument in B. There is also a soprano cor ...

in the local children's band at ten, and soon composed a number of danzones. In 1916 he became the

clarinet The clarinet is a Single-reed instrument, single-reed musical instrument in the woodwind family, with a nearly cylindrical bore (wind instruments), bore and a flared bell. Clarinets comprise a Family (musical instruments), family of instrume ...

ist of the Santa Clara municipal band. He joined Arquimedes Pous' theatre company, which toured the island regularly. In 1923 he founded and directed the municipal band of

Trinidad Trinidad is the larger, more populous island of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, the country. The island lies off the northeastern coast of Venezuela and sits on the continental shelf of South America. It is the southernmost island in ...

. In 1929 he moved to Havana and played with Moises Simons and also with the Hermanos Palau orchestra. Cueva's big break came when Don Azpiazú formed a band to tour Europe after the success of the '' Peanut Vendor''. After the band returned, Cueva stayed in Europe for ten years as a trumpeter and band leader. He signed a contract with a

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

ian nightclub, which promptly renamed itself ''La Cueva''. Sublette says that it was in this club that Cueva and Eliseo Grenet launched the

conga The conga, also known as tumbadora, is a tall, narrow, single-headed drum from Cuba. Congas are staved like barrels and classified into three types: quinto (lead drum, highest), tres dos or tres golpes (middle), and tumba or salidor (lowest ...

as a salon dance. However, the

Lecuona Cuban Boys The Lecuona Cuban Boys (Spanish: ''Muchachos cubanos de Lecuona'') was a popular Cuban orchestra which toured the world for over forty years. The band was founded by Ernesto Lecuona, whose role was that of a patron-entrepreneur. He did not actual ...

were playing it at the same time. He was in

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

when the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War () was a military conflict fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republican faction (Spanish Civil War), Republicans and the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalists. Republicans were loyal to the Left-wing p ...

started, and promptly joined the Republican side. He directed the 4th division's band on the battlefield. When the republicans were defeated, he left for Paris but was intercepted and briefly imprisoned. Cueva returned to Cuba in 1940 and founded his own band, which became popular and performed on radio CMHI (later Cadena Azul, later still RHC-Cadena Azul) as ''Orquesta Montecarlo''. This was a top-class outfit with several young members who later became famous, such as trumpeter Remberto Lara, with Tito Gómez and Cascarita (Orlando Guerra) on vocals.Recordings available on Tumbao TCD-032 ''Julio Cueva y su orquesta: La butuba cubana'', 14 numbers. Also on Tumbao CD ''Julio Cueva: Desintegrando''. Some earlier recordings on Harlequin LP 67 ''Cubans in Paris 1930–1938''. Cueva finally left the band and rejoined the Hermanos Palau orchestra, where he met the young pianist-arranger René Hernández.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cueva, Julio 1897 births 1975 deaths Cuban trumpeters Cuban male composers Cuban bandleaders 20th-century Cuban conductors (music) 20th-century Cuban composers 20th-century trumpeters Cuban male musicians