Havana, August 31 (RHC)—Renown Cuban pianist Jesus Chucho Valdes has been included in the 2018 class of lifetime achievement awards by the Latin Recording Academy.

Presented to performers who have made unprecedented contributions of outstanding artistic significance to Latin music, this year the excellence award also goes to six other artists with reputable music careers: Erasmo Carlos, Dyango, Andy Montañez, José María Napoleón, Wilfrido Vargas, and Yuri.

"Our 2018 class has made outstanding contributions benefiting Ibero-American music, providing innovation, and a unique vision in favor of all music lovers,” said Gabriel Abaroa Jr., Latin Recording Academy president/CEO in a press statement.

The honorees will be celebrated during a private ceremony on November 13 in Las Vegas.

Chucho Valdes’ music careeras a pianist, bandleader, composer, and arranger spans more than five decades. In the '70s he founded the group Irakere, which became one of the best-known Latin Jazz bands in the world.

Chucho, who is 76 years old, has received six Grammy and three Latin Grammy awards, among other distinctions, and is currently considered  the most influential figure of Afro-Cuban Jazz.