Niño Rivera
One of the greatest tres players in Cuban music — Niño Rivera was a virtuoso of the instrument who elevated it from a traditional son accompaniment role to that of a genuine solo voice.
About
Born Andrés Echeverría in Havana, Niño Rivera developed his tres technique in the son tradition and worked with many of the important Cuban ensembles of the mid-20th century. His playing combined the rhythmic drive of the traditional son tres role with an improvisational melodic sensibility influenced by jazz.
The tres in Cuban son has a specific role: providing the rhythmic-harmonic foundation while interacting with the bass and percussion. Rivera demonstrated that within this framework, extraordinary expressive depth was possible. His recordings are considered essential listening for anyone studying the tres in its traditional context.
The tres is a Cuban guitar-like instrument with three pairs (courses) of strings. It is the defining melodic-rhythmic instrument of son cubano and its ancestor genres.
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