By Rob C. Díaz, from London
Paquito D'Rivera —a jazz-sax poet

The prodigious child, and iconoclastic alto and soprano saxophonist and clarinettist Paquito D'Rivera, six-time Grammy winner, is celebrating his half-century birthday in his musical career. He has inspired a generation of musicians in the fifty years of his phenomenal career.

Born in 1948 in Marianao, Havana, Paquito, started studying music with his father Tito, a classical saxophonist and music store owner. At the age of six, and by Daddy's hand, he traded in his clarinet and alto, and began studying the playing both Cuban classics and traditional music and in a kind of underground way some of the biggest jazz masters such as Benny Goodman, Armstrong, Charlie the Bird Parker and Lester Young.

Early in the 60s he joined the Havana Music Hall Theatre Orchestra where he teamed up with la crème de la crème of the Havana Musical scene. This project was in the expert hands of Alfonso Arau, a famous Mexican comedian and film-maker.

In 1967 Armando Romeu founded the Cuban Modern Music Orchestra. This project would involve the greatest Cuban popular musicians at that time. Also, the jazz trio formed by Paquito, Chucho, and Carlos Emilio, were called to be part of it. This would be the embryo of the Irakere, the best Cuban Jazz line-up ever seen.

Irakere was an extremely experimental ensemble which combined an authentic variety of Cuban rhythms with tunes of the contemporary international jazz scene at that time.

Talented jazz players like Arturo Sandoval and Jorge Varona (on trumpet), Carlos Averoff and Paquito (on sax, flute and clarinet), Carlos del Puerto (on bass), Carlos E. Morales (on guitar), Enrique Pla (on drums), among others, were included in its original line-up.

Paquito's popularity resurged following the success of his outstanding improvisations on some masterpieces at the first Irakere era, like Adagio on a Mozart's theme, Misa Negra (The Black Mass), Los ojos de Pepa, and El Valle de Picadur.

After their concert at the New York Jazz Mecca, (as part of the Newport Jazz fest) in 1978, this woodwind magicianand Irakere won their first Grammy award, and critics recognized his performance as the best jazz instrumental solo in that year.

In 1980, Paquito left Cuba and in 1981, while on tour in Spain, sought asylum with the American Embassy, and left his homeland forever. He has continued his prolific career, touring around the world, recording albums, performing jazz concerts and demonstrating his unlimited talent.

He has achieved more than 25 recorded albums in his solo career, and some of his compositions such as, Wapango, Chucho, Vals venezolano, etc. became standards during his years alongside Dizzy Gillespie and the United Nation Orchestra.

In a time when many artists' truest musical hearts are sacrificed to the notion of “mainstream success at all costs,” Paquito has made the bold decision to return to his roots.

Jazz fans in his adopted hometown of New York and throughout America best know the saxophonist for his long-time leadership of Irakere, and his well-received mid-90s solo albums Reunion (1990) and Cuba-Jazz (1996).

The Habaneraalbum proves his musical calibre. Paquito keeps exploring new avenues, even getting into the avant-garde stuff like a symphonic jazz ensemble on the Habanera album. It's a beautiful and ironic metaphor of Havana 's nights mixed with the evolution of the Cuban and Latin-American rhythms.

Blending such diverse jazz influences as Ed Harris, Joe Henderson, and Charlie Parker with his melodic leanings towards experimental bands like Irakere and O.M.M., Paquito creates a sly mix of blue, Latin, Cuban traditional music and world beat sounds. Paquito's goal is to show dimensions of himself he has been exploring in life situations for years.

In spite of the prohibitions suffered in his native Cuba, due to his almost frantic devotion to Jazz, Paquito and his music have had the acceptance deserved on the part of the great public. It is sad that the Cuban cultural authorities refused to admit Paquito and that he has had to suffer the ignominy of being an absentee from the culture of his country as well as an exile.

Paquito has seen tremendous growth within himself as a jazz player over these years, attributing much of that to his ongoing gigs with Dizzy Gillespie, Lionel Hampton, Chick Corea, Maynard Ferguson, Stan Getz, Herbie Hancock, Michael Brecker, Al DiMeola, Michel Camilo, Claudio Roditti, Arturo Sandoval, Chucho Valdes and recently with the octogenarian Cuban pianist Bebo Valdes, among a large list of jazz's superstars.

During these fifty musical years, Paquito's career has moved through a diversity of formats and styles within the new jazz-streams. In 2005 Paquito will be honoured with the National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Masters in America . This is the title bestowed upon only a handful of living jazz musicians and promoters in recognition of their contribution to the music form.

Listening to him, from any perspective, he is a true sax-jazz poet. Paquito himself says “My favourite players/ composers are the ones who keep a tight focus on strong melodies. This shows up in my own work. I just have this desire to express myself artistically while also creating a very entertaining sound.”

April 30, 2005
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