Based in New York City  Grammy nominated artist  pianist and composer Manuel Valera was born and raised in Havana  Cuba Since arriving in NYC  he has become well known in the NYC modern jazz scene  garnering national reviews and lending his talents as a pianist and composer to such notable artist as Arturo Sandoval  Paquito D’Rivera  Brian Lynch  Dafnis Prieto  Jeff “Tain” Watts  John Benitez  Samuel Torres  Joel Frahm  Yosvany Terry among many others