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Paquito D'Rivera
Paquito D’Rivera - alto and soprano saxophone, clarinet, bandleader, recording artist, composer.
Paquito D’Rivera is a stellar example of the marriage of Latin American music and jazz. A Grammy winning, best selling artist with more than thirty solo albums to his credit, he is equally luminous on the soprano or alto saxophones, and clarinet. He is a genuine musical sophisticate with a broad span of endeavors and achievements.
Born on the island of Cuba June 4, 1948, Paquito D’Rivera began his career as a child prodigy. A restless musical genius during his teen years, Mr. D’Rivera created various original and ground-breaking musical ensembles. As a founding member of the Orquesta Cubana de Musica Moderna, he directed that group for two years, while at the same time playing both the clarinet and saxophone with the Cuban National Symphony Orchestra. He eventually went on to premier several works by notable Cuban composers with the same orchestra.
Additionally, he was a founding member and co-director of the innovative musical ensemble Irakere. With its explosive mixture of jazz, rock, classical and traditional Cuban music never before heard, Irakere toured extensively throughout America and Europe, won several Grammy nominations (1979, 1980) and a Grammy (1979).
Paquito D'Rivera's first recognition as a solo artist by the Grammy Recording Academy came in 1996 with the highly acclaimed recording Portraits of Cuba. Since then, Mr. D'Rivera has received numerous recognitions as an artist and composer.
Recently, Mr. D’Rivera received his 8th Grammy for Best Classical Recording for the recording Riberas with the Buenos Aires String Quartet, and is a recipient of the National Medal for the Arts. Additionally, D'Rivera was named one of the 2005 NEA (National Endowment for the Arts) Jazz Masters and most recently, he was honored in March 2007 with the Living Jazz Legend Award in a ceremony at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC.
He also won a Grammy for Best Instrumental Composition 2004 for his “Merengue” as performed by the distinguished cellist Yo-Yo Ma. In both 2004 and 2006, the Jazz Journalists Association honored Mr. D’Rivera as the Clarinetist of the Year.
The National Hispanic Academy of Media Arts and Sciences paid tribute to Mr. D'Rivera with their Annual Achievement in Music Award. In May of 2003, he received a Doctorate Honoris Causa in Music, from the Berklee School of Music. In addition to his awards and recognitions, Paquito D'Rivera is the first artist to win Latin Grammys in both Classical and Latin Jazz categories (2003), for Historia del Soldado (L'Histoire du Soldat) and Brazilian Dreams with the New York Voices. In 2000, D'Rivera's Tropicana Nights received a Grammy. That same year, he received a nomination in the classical category for his Music of Two Worlds, featuring compositions by Schubert, Brahms, Guastavino, Villa Lobos, and Mr. D’Rivera himself. A 2001 Latin Grammy was awarded for his Quintet’s recording of Live at the Blue Note along with a nomination in the Classical Crossover category for The Clarinetist Vol. I. In 2002, he won again as a guest artist on the Bebo Valdes Trio's recording El Arte Del Sabor.
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Hilario Duran: Cry Me A River
by Pierre Giroux
Hilario Durán is a renowned Cuban-Canadian jazz pianist and composer known for contributing to Latin jazz. He does not release big band efforts often, but with the release of Cry Me A River, he has reconstituted his Latin Jazz Big Band to take us on an extraordinary musical journey, effortlessly blending myriad genres into his singular style. Durán's Afro-Caribbean cultural attachment informs the nine works of both originals and covers in this outing, resulting in a unique tapestry of sound. ...
Continue ReadingDiego Urcola Quartet: El Duelo
by Mark Sullivan
The cover of this album shows Diego Urcola (trumpet, flugelhorn) and Paquito D'Rivera (alto saxophone, clarinet) back-to-back, as if about to engage in the titular duel. But the sound is that of two veteran players jointly taking a leap into the unknown. A quartet without piano is an unusual setting for both of them. D'Rivera's liner notes mention Gerry Mulligan's quartet with Chet Baker (represented by I Know, Don't Know How"), but Ornette Coleman's quartet is another, more surprising ...
Continue ReadingPaquito D’Rivera Quintet at the Regattabar
by Nat Seelen
Paquito D'Rivera Quintet Regattabar Cambridge, MA October 19, 2018 For over four decades, Paquito D'Rivera has been an institution in the global music scene. Flitting between jazz, latin, and classical music since he was a boy studying at the Havana Conservatory of Music, he's logged thousands of miles, more than fifty albums as leader, and fourteen GRAMMY awards (He's won in both the Latin Jazz and Classical categories. In the same year. ...
Continue ReadingPaquito D'Rivera at Mount Vernon Country Club
by Geoff Anderson
Paquito D'Rivera Mount Vernon Country Club Golden, Colorado February 27, 2015 Jazz. Pass it on. That was a big part of what happened Friday night at the Mount Vernon Country Club in the foothills west of jny: Denver. National Endowment of the Arts Jazz Master and multiple Grammy winner Paquito D'Rivera led an ensemble of primarily college students in an evening of Latin jazz. The groove was solid, the song selection impeccable and ...
Continue ReadingPaquito D'Rivera: Jazz Meets the Classics
by Maurizio Zerbo
Forte di una solida fama internazionale, il sassofonista cubano ci propone questo singolare CD ispirato dalla musica eurocolta. Dedicati ai più celebri compositori Bach, Mozart, Chopin) di tale tradizione, gli arrangiamenti mostrano la formazione classica del leader esaltandone il grande virtuosismo strumentale. Tanta è la tecnica messa in campo, dinanzi alla quale cedono il passo l'ispirazione e la forte tensione creativa. Sin dalle prime note appare evidente il compiacimento tecnico, nel pur lodevole tentativo di aggiungere colori ...
Continue ReadingAlex Brown: Pianist
by Edward Blanco
With a little help from Cuban-born saxophonist Paquito D'Rivera the jazz world heralds the entrance of 22 year-old Alex Brown, capturing but a glimpse of his talents on a monster recording debut simply entitled Pianist. It was actually D'Rivera's bassist, Oscar Stagnaro,who began to gig with pianist around the Boston area, ultimately introducing Brown to D'Rivera, and the rest is history. Taken with Brown's skills on the instrument and his understanding of Latin music beyond Afro-Cuban rhythms, D'Rivera took him ...
Continue ReadingPaquito D'Rivera: Jazz at the Heart
by R.J. DeLuke
There is almost nothing Paquito D'Rivera hasn't accomplished since his arrival on the U.S. jazz scene in the early 1980s, when the young Cuban arrived from Spain--the first spot he hid when he defected from his home nation and its Communist rule that denied personal freedoms and forced musicians playing jazz to call it something else in order to avoid punishment.It was in Madrid that he bided his time until he could make it to New York City, ...
Continue ReadingMusic Education Monday: Paquito D'Rivera on composing and playing clarinet, and more
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St. Louis Jazz Notes by Dean Minderman
Born in 1948 in Cuba, Paquito D'Rivera first became well-known in the USA in the early 1980s as the fiery alto saxophonist for the high-energy band Irakere. Over the ensuing decades, he's revealed other aspects of his musical personality, toosuch as his clarinet playing, which has been consistently good enough to earn D'Rivera a place in the critical conversation about the most capable contemporary jazz clarinetists. For today's Music Education Monday, here's a video of a master class with D'Rivera, ...
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Paquito D'Rivera's "Jazz Meets The Classics" Out On Aug. 5th!
Source:
Bret Sjerven
Legendary Cuban born woodwind master Paquito D'Rivera will release his new classical meets jazz fusion recording on his own Paquito Records on August 5th! The border between classical and jazz music has always been a fluid one, with composers from each camp finding inspiration on both sides of the divide. It wasn’t long ago that Darius Milhaud, Igor Stravinsky and Bela Bartok were studying the exciting, extemporaneous new music of jazz musicians. Of course, many jazz musicians were just as ...
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NJPAC's Sunday brunch series at Dorthaan’s Place
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Christine Saunders
The finest in jazz is on the menu at Dorthaan’s Place, NJPAC’s Sunday brunch series. Anticipation runs high at Dorthaan’s Place, whether you’re there for the music, the food, the scene, Dorthaan, or all of the above. The Sunday brunch jazz series, hosted by Newark’s peerless “First Lady of Jazz” Dorthaan Kirk, made its debut during NJPAC’s 2012-2013 season with four events. For its sophomore staging, the schedule has grown to six concerts, with the first riveted into the schedule ...
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MCG Jazz, Paquito D’Rivera and "Panamericana Suite" Receives Two Latin Grammy Awards
Source:
Michael Ricci
Pittsburgh, PA: MCG Jazz, the independent record label housed at Manchester Craftsmen's Guild on the North Side, has again produced a CD that has won two Latin GRAMMY® Awards. The awards were announced today during the pre-telecast awards show at Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, NV. Congratulations go out to Paquito D'Rivera on his two Latin GRAMMY® Awards. This time it is for Panamericana Suite (MCGJ 1026), in the Best Latin Jazz Album and Best Contemporary Classical Composition ...
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Cuban Legend Paquito D'Rivera Interviewed at All About Jazz
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All About Jazz
There is almost nothing Paquito D'Rivera hasn't accomplished since his arrival on the U.S. jazz scene in the early 1980s, when the young Cuban arrived from Spainthe first spot he hid when he defected from his home nation and its Communist rule that denied personal freedoms and forced musicians playing jazz to call it something else in order to avoid punishment. Since then, the 62-year-old reed man (alto saxophone and clarinet)/composer/arranger has won nine Grammy Awards in Latin, jazz and ...
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Latin Jazz Conversations: Paquito D'Rivera (Part 5)
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The Latin Jazz Corner by Chip Boaz
Depth and diversity really define the magnitude of an artist's career, and determines the impact that their musical will have over time. Most artists pick a direction that dictates their musical output, but only a select few dig far into the history and potential of their chosen path. If they do, they rarely change course and continue their fully encompassing exploration. The ability to go in-depth in several different directions only exists in a rare breed of artist, and that ...
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Latin Jazz Conversations: Paquito D'Rivera (Part 4)
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The Latin Jazz Corner by Chip Boaz
When a musician moves into the mature stage of their artistic development, they carry a responsibility to themselves, their listeners, and the great musical community. After committing so many years of their lives to the art form, they need to make a significant statement that reflects their own personalities. At the same time, they need to show the world the musical possibilities inherent in unknown artists or young musicians. If they don't take these simple steps, the world will be ...
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Latin Jazz Conversations: Paquito D'Rivera (Part 2)
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The Latin Jazz Corner by Chip Boaz
Very few musicians set out to influence people through the power of their music; they simply follow the heights of their artistic passions. Influence can't really be forced or created, it arises as a result of an artist's work; there's not really a formula that can guarantee the impact of music. An intensely focused passion towards performance and the willingness to try new things helps grab people's attention. An extreme dedication to the art form further impresses an audience and ...
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Latin Jazz Conversations: Paquito D'Rivera (Part 1)
Source:
The Latin Jazz Corner by Chip Boaz
True musical visionaries don't appear out of the blue; they are the result of a life immersed in music from every angle. From a very young age, these artists have access to a wide variety of music and musicians, checking out all the possibilities of a musical life. They spend time in the company of important artistic thinkers and bring those thoughts into their music. Influential mentors guide these artists through proper technique, major musical works, and vast musicality. Most ...
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Paquito D'Rivera's "Panamericana Suite" (MCG Jazz) Available Now!
Source:
Michael Ricci
Few jazz artists have been as musically omnivorousand dazzlingly accomplishedas the Cuban-born alto saxophone and clarinet virtuoso Paquito D'Rivera. Equally at home performing bebop, tango, and classical as well as Afro-Cuban styles, D'Rivera displays his mastery of many genres on his new CD, Panamericana Suite. Recorded live at Pittsburgh's Manchester Craftsmen's Guild for MCG Jazz, Panamericana Suite takes its name from a piece commissioned by Jazz at Lincoln Center that D'Rivera premiered in 2000. A stunning cultural synthesis encompassing North, ...
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Alonso Gonzalez & Jazz Latino
percussionAmy Shook
bass, acousticPhilippe Vieux
composer / conductorJosé Valentino
multi-instrumentalistAlessandro Bertozzi
saxophone, altoChuck Currie
woodwindsEvan Gongora
saxophone, baritoneSantiago Bertel Puyo
pianoPhotos
Music
Cry Me A River
From: Cry Me A RiverBy Paquito D'Rivera
Waltz for Moe
From: Panamericana SuiteBy Paquito D'Rivera