Ernesto Lecuona

Ernesto Lecuona y Casado (Spanish pronunciation: [eɾˈnesto leˈkwona]; August 7, 1895[1] – November 29, 1963)[2] was a Cuban composer and pianist, many of whose works have become standards of the Latin, jazz and classical repertoires.

He first traveled to Spain in 1924 on a concert tour with violinist Marta de la Torre; his successful piano recitals in 1927 and 1928 at the Salle Pleyel in Paris coincided with a rise in interest in Cuban music.

[5] His popularity brought him to concert halls in Buenos Aires, Rio de Janeiro, and Lima in South America, as well as Paris, Nice, Barcelona, Madrid, and London in Europe, followed by more engagements in New York.

While traveling in the Canary Islands he died of a heart attack on November 29, 1963, in the town of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, where he had gone to recuperate from a lung ailment.

A great deal of Lecuona's music was first introduced to mass American audiences by Desi Arnaz, a fellow Cuban and Lucille Ball's spouse.

Lecuona's talent for composition has influenced the Latin American world in a way quite similar to George Gershwin in the United States, in his case raising Cuban music to classical status.

She was the author of the song "Babalú", made popular in the Latin American world by Miguelito Valdés, and in the United States by Desi Arnaz.