MINNEAPOLIS — If you combine Beethoven’s music with Latin Jazz and John Coltrane’s stylings, you’ll get a sense of the playful playlist that will be performed at the Dakota Jazz Club on Saturday.
“This is one of 16-17 pieces,” Nachito Herrera told KARE11, displaying the setlist for his upcoming ‘The Last of the Fifties’ show. “It’s similar to the life of Nachito Herrera. That’s what I’ve been doing.
The piano has always been important in Nachito’s life. From gaining acclaim in his native Cuba at the age of 12 to bringing his own brand of Latin Jazz to Minnesota 24 years ago, the Steinway artist continues to spend eight hours per day preparing for performances.
Nachito Herrera: “I don’t like bringing music to the stage; I only bring my setlist.” So I try to keep everything right here.”
Kent Erdahl: “You will play all of this music by memory?”
Nachito: “Yes, sir. It’s a long process to get everything there.”
On the eve of this show, it is clear how far he has come in only five years.
“For me, it’s an inspiration,” Nachito’s wife, Aurora Herrera, said. “It’s a miracle.”
In early April 2020, COVID-19 was ravaging Nachito’s heart and lungs, so his care team at M Health Fairview decided to try ECMO, an extreme form of life support that circulates blood externally. At the time, it was a strategy that had only been tested on a few patients in China.
“Not all of them had even completed the therapy,” said Dr. Melissa Brunsvold, director of ECMO at M Health Fairview. “We weren’t sure if a patient who had COVID would survive.”
Nachito began to awaken from his coma just hours before Easter Sunday, following a 12-day prayer chain.
“I just looked through the window and I spoke with God and I said, ‘If you brought me back here, it was for a reason,'” Nachito told me.
But for weeks, he admits, he felt lost and wasn’t sure why.
“I couldn’t really play the piano,” he told me. “I was trying to play something and trying to remember, but I couldn’t because I didn’t have muscle control. “My hands were very shaky.”
But after a month of practice and a lot of patience, he began to see results. In the years since, he has resumed performing concerts, recorded an album, and constructed a new studio for his famous Steinway inside his home.
“Here we are, in the new studio, practicing, working,” he said with a smile. “All I want to do is continue playing.” “I thank God every day for this opportunity.”
And he is certainly not alone.
“I am happy now,” Aurora stated. “Seeing Nacho makes me emotional, but it also inspires me. This is a good message for the people—hope.”
He is excited to share the message again on Saturday.
“I have to thank God and all people for the rest of my life,” according to him. “This is my life right here.”
Nachito Herrera: The Last of the 50s begins at 7 p.m. on Saturday at The Dakota, with doors opening at 5:30 p.m.