Word: paquito
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SAXOPHONIST Paquito D'Rivera, Cuba's most recent gift to American music, is Latin jazz's newest talent as well as the most recent example of the exchange between Cuban and American music...
...leave the country to find home, and he had to be careful to give no sign at all of his travel plans. Passing through Madrid on a band tour in the spring of 1980, Sax Player Paquito D'Rivera, Cuban born and Cuban bred, was at the airport, bag packed as usual for another gig. Inside his luggage, however, was a carefully weighted assortment of stones, an army boot and a piece of a baseball bat. By the time the bag was stashed on the plane, D'Rivera was on his way into Madrid, planning his route...
...Paquito D'Rivera, 35, may sound like a propagandist's dream, but the bopped-up, romantic, salty and sensuous jazz that he makes recognizes no real political boundary. It has roots equally in the hothouse Latin rhythms of his homeland and in the high-flying horns of Charlie Parker, John Coltrane and Lee Konitz. Adapting them, molding them and memorably melding all these elements has got D'Rivera three solid Columbia albums, of which the most recent, Live at Keystone Korner, is selling nicely, thanks. He has also become a musician whose talents are much in demand...
...Cuba," says Paquito D'Rivera, "jazz is a four-letter word." So, at the age of 32, he came to New York. Jazz may be spelled the same way in America, may even be locked into a perpetual cultural rearguard action, but at least it does not carry all kinds of touchy political ramifications. "Jazz music isn't forbidden in Cuba," D'Rivera elaborates, "but if you do that kind of music, they will put an eye on you. You're going to be like pro-American or something, you know." He also recalls some advice...
...Cuban inflections keep the temperature high in Paquito's distinctive brand of bop. "He really is a pure jazz player with strong Afro-Cuban roots in his music," says Lundvall, who has moved on to become president of Elektra/Asylum/Nonesuch Records. "You hear that Latin fire. He has a sound that is totally identifiable." Paquito's easy access to the American jazz mainstream is largely attributable to his zest and finesse on the alto and soprano sax, and partly ascribable to the fact that he is playing in a familiar groove, which may stray in a friendly fashion from...