He was a central figure in the golden age of Cuban music, especially due to his big band arrangements and compositions of mambo, chachachá and batanga, a genre he created in 1952.

However, after the end of the Cuban Revolution, in 1960, Bebo left his family behind and went into exile in Mexico before settling in Sweden, where he remarried.

[3] His orchestra and that of Armando Romeu alternated at the Tropicana, backing singers such as Benny Moré and Pío Leyva.

Valdés was also an important figure in the incipient Afro-Cuban jazz scene in Havana, taking part in sessions commissioned by American producer Norman Granz during 1952.

[5] In 1957, Bebo left the Tropicana to establish his own orchestra, named Sabor de Cuba, which recorded with vocalists such as Rolando Laserie, as well as instrumentals.

His son, Jesús, later known as Chucho, began his career playing piano in Bebo's band at age sixteen.

They collaborated again on El Arte del Sabor, which also features Carlos "Patato" Valdés and guest performances by Paquito D'Rivera.

During his career, Valdés—one of the founders of Latin jazz, and a pioneer in bringing Afro-Cuban sacred rhythms to popular dance music[11]—won seven Grammy Awards: two for El Arte del Sabor (2002), one for Lágrimas Negras,[12] and two for Bebo de Cuba in 2006 (in the categories "Best Traditional Tropical Album" and "Best Latin Jazz Album").

[20] Valdés was in the middle of the treatment of Alzheimer's disease, which he had suffered for several years,[21] when he died in Stockholm, Sweden, on March 22, 2013, aged 94.