Born in Banes, Cuba on January 31, 1913, pianist, bandleader, and composer Pedro Nolasco Jústiz Rodríguez was better known by his stage name Peruchín. His jazz-influenced form of Cuban music and his involvement in Havana’s descarga scene in the 1950s had made him one of the most influential Cuban pianists of all time. When he was young, he studied saxophone and piano but eventually had to abandon the sax due to his asthma. His family relocated to Santiago de Cuba in 1933, where he would eventually join Orquesta Chepín-Chovén. In the 1940s, he played with several different ensembles in Cuba including Los Trovadores del Tono, Orquesta Casino de la Playa, Los Swing Boys, Conjunto Matamoros, Trio Matamoros, and Armando Romeu’s Tropicana Club. During the second half of the ‘40s, he moved to Panama and performed with various musical projects before returning to Havana by the end of the decade. Peruchín became even more active in the Havana music scene. He performed with Julio Gutiérrez’s orchestra, double bassist Alfredo León, and Orquesta Riverside. Peruchín joined Benny Moré’s Banda Gigante in 1953. He became a popular contributor to many of the local improvisational jam sessions – known as descargas – before releasing his debut album, His Piano and Rhythm Accompaniment, in 1954. He continued to perform with various artists throughout the ‘50s, encouraging and supporting many artists like Julio Gutiérrez, Chico O'Farrill, Emilio Peñalver, and others. Peruchín still found time to record his own albums including The Incendiary Piano of Peruchín (1961) and Guantanamera (1965). As the 1960s came to a close, he worked more with jazz groups and became less involved in the local Havana scene. He continued to perform and record occasionally, releasing the album Piano y Ritmo in 1975. Peruchín died on December 24, 1977.
