LINING UP FOR CHUCHO

Jazz critic Ben Ratliff made my day on New Year's with a gorgeous, appreciative review of Chucho Valdes and his New York-based quartet at Manhattan's Village Vanguard.

"You can start to take the virtuosity of Cuban musicians for granted sometimes, especially when they're playing material that binds itself in technique," he began. "One example is Chucho Valdes, the pianist who is the dean of Latin jazz." The first set of the six-night stand, which ends tonight, "was one of the best shows I had heard all year," Ratliff went on. The group's "genuinely fresh" spontaneity, he pointed out, may have resulted in part from having had only two rehearsals.

A friend of mine who was in from Seattle managed to get reservations. I still haven't heard whether she actually got in. The Vanguard is a small club, and Chucho has a huge following. I imagine the show was sold out long before Ratliff's review. After it ran, the Vanguard simply stopped answering the phone -- or so it seemed.

But this morning, I finally managed to get through to a recording. The only way to wrangle a seat, for anyone who's interested, is to get to the club about 30 to 40 minutes before the set starts. There are two sets tonight, at 9 and 11. You might luck out on standby in case of no-shows. "If you're among the first 10 or 15 people on line," the recording said, "you have a decent chance of getting in."

See you there.