PAQUITO D’RIVERA QUINTET

Paquito D’Rivera is a living monument of Latin jazz. Born in Havana in 1948, he was introduced to music at an early age by his father, who is a classical saxophonist but also with a clear passion for listening to jazz. During his studies at the Havana Conservatory of Music he met Chucho Valdés with whom in 1967 he created the Orquesta Cubana de Música Moderna. But it was in 1973 that the two laid the foundations for their legend: they founded the group Irakere, mixing jazz, rock, classical and Cuban music. A mix with Western music certainly not too pleasing to the Cuban regime: it was precisely the continuous interference of the communist government that pushed D’Rivera to ask for political asylum from the United States in 1980.

Even in his new homeland he soon emerged as a beacon of Latin jazz . He collaborates with McCoy Tyner, George Coleman, Chick Corea, Tito Puente, Astor Piazzolla, while in his formations he welcomes young musicians, projecting them towards international fame (Michel Camilo, Danilo Pérez, Hilton Ruiz, Claudio Roditi). In 1989 he joined one of the most amazing Afro-Latin orchestras that have ever graced the stage, the United Nation Orchestra created by Dizzy Gillespie, of which he himself became director after Gillespie’s death.

He is the only artist who can boast of having won the Grammy Award for both jazz, Latin and classical music. And D’Rivera has won quite a few awards: the last two at the 2023 Latin Grammys for the best Latin jazz/jazz album ( I Missed You Too!, with Chucho Valdés) and for the best contemporary classical composition (the Concerto Venezolano , recorded by trumpeter Pacho Flores..

The Band:

Paquito D’Rivera: clarinet/saxophone | Jose Rivero: piano | Gaston Joya: double bass | Sebastian Laverde: vibraphone | Mauricio Zottarelli: drums

***Website requires translation