A Juno-Award winning Cuban-born/Canada-based pianist, Hilario Durán brings together Afro-Cuban musical traditions with his harmonically nuanced ear for contemporary and post-bop jazz. Durán initially gained fame in the '70s succeeding Chucho Valdés as the pianist in Cuba’s Orquesta Cubana de Música Moderna. He also spent a decade with Arturo Sandoval's band, playing with Dizzy Gillespie, Michel Legrand, and others before settling in Canada. He has worked closely with flutist/saxophonist Jane Bunnett and released acclaimed albums like 1999's Habana Nocturna, the Juno Award-winning New Danzon, and the Juno Award-winning/Grammy-nominated From the Heart, the latter of which featured his Latin Jazz Big Band. He returned to Cuba for 2019's all-star Contumbao and again led his big band on 2023's Cry Me a River. Born in 1953 in Havana, Cuba, Durán was naturally influenced by the greats of Cuban piano music like Ernesto Lecuona, Frank Emilio Flynn, and Peruchin. He studied and graduated from the revered Amadeo Roldan Music Institute in Havana, which has boasted fellow graduates Chucho Valdés, Paquito D'Rivera, and Gonzalo Rubalcaba. Durán also studied the tumbao with Evaristo Aparicio, composition and conducting with Germán Piferrer, and orchestral techniques with Guillermo Barreto. His early band Los D'Siempre was not as anchored in playing folkloric, traditional Cuban music or polyrhythmic music as expanding the harmonic language of it with jazz infusions. When D'Rivera and Arturo Sandoval defected from Cuba to the U.S. in 1980 and Irakere made their initial splash on the American music scene, Durán was inspired to follow their lead. The pianist joined Sandoval's band and remained for nine years from 1981-1990, collaborated with Dizzy Gillespie & the United Nations Orchestra, and worked with composer/arranger Michel Legrand. In 1990 Durán formed his own band, Perspectiva, touring through Latin America and Europe, and was the pianist in saxophonist/flutist Jane Bunnett's award-winning Spirits of Havana band. In 1995, after a final European tour with Perspectiva, Durán moved to Toronto, Canada, with his family. A year later, he made his solo debut with Francisco's Song, which featured Bunnett, along with bassist Alain Caron and guitarist Sonny Greenwich. An important part of the Canadian music scene ever since, he has been a member of the jazz faculty at Humber College, acting as both an adjunct piano professor and ensemble director. The many musicians he has collaborated with include Tata Güines, Changuito, Horacio "El Negro" Hernández, Jorge Reyes, Roberto Occhipinti, Larry Cramer, John Patitucci, Michael Brecker, Regina Carter, Dave Valentin, Juan Pablo Torres, John Benitez, Dafnis Prieto, Hugh Marsh, Carlos "Patato" Valdés, and Leny Andrade, as well as classical ensembles Quartetto Gelato and the Gryphon Trio. His sophomore solo album, Killer Tumbao, appeared in 1997 and featured his Cuban Jazz All-Stars (again with Bunnett), and featuring timbales player Jose Luis Quintana Fuerte, conga player Tata Güines. Two years later, he delivered another small group date, Habana Nocturna, with Bunnett, trumpeter Larry Cramer, bassist Roberto Occhipinti, drummer Horacio "El Negro" Hernandez, and conga player Rodolfo Valdes Terry. In 2003, he picked up his first Juno Award nomination for Havana Remembered and won in 2005 for New Danzon, the latter of which also featured drummer Hernandez and bassist Occhipinti. In 2005 Durán formed his Latin Jazz Big Band with Canadian and Cuban musicians in Toronto, collaborating with Russia's Globalis Symphony Orchestra and playing arrangements by Roberto Occhipinti. The following year, he featured his big band on From the Heart, which featured contributions by D'Rivera and Hernandez, as well as vocals by Dione Taylor. It earned a Grammy nomination for Best Solo for "Paq Man" and took home the Juno Award for Contemporary Jazz Album of the Year. On the heels of his win, he was honored with the 2007 Chico O'Farrill Lifetime Achievement Award. A trio album, Motion, appeared in 2010, featuring bassist Roberto Occhipinti and drummer Mark Kelso. He then reunited with soprano saxophonist and flutist Bunnett for 2011's Cuban Rhapsody, before delivering the holiday-themed Christmas Salsa. In 2016, Durán returned to Cuba where he entered the storied EGREM studio for a series of sessions with an all-star cadre of Cuban musicians. The resulting Contumbao arrived in 2019 and featured appearances by guitarist Jorge Luis Valdes, bassist Jorge Reyes, conga player Jorge Lius Torres, and vocalist Brenda Navarette, among others. That same year, he supplied the soundtrack to director Sergio Navarretta's film The Cuban. Front Steet Duets, a collaboration with pianist David Virelles arrived in 2022. A year later, he was back leading his Latin Jazz Big Band with Cry Me a River, featuring reedist D'Rivera, drummer Hernandez, and Canadian Afro-Cuban jazz duo OKAN. ~ Matt Collar & Michael G. Nastos, Rovi