FUJITSU JAZZ FESTIVAL
TRIBUTE to PAQUITO D’RIVERA

“50 Years and 10 Nights of Show Business”

CARNEGIE HALL – January 10, 2005

With Bebo Valdes, Yo-Yo Ma, Michel Camilo,
Rosa Passos, Las Hermanas Marquez,
Dave Samuels & Andy Narell, The New York Voices,
Claudio Roditi, Romero Lubambo,
Brenda Feliciano, Pablo Ziegler, Candido,
Youth Orchestra of the Americas and more!

PAQUITO D’RIVERA is celebrating “50 Years and 10 Nights” of show business at CARNEGIE HALL on January 10th with a star-studded program packed with his musical friends!

It was in 1953 in Cuba where Paquito was born, that a beautiful curved soprano sax arrived at his home, a gift from his Dad, Tito, which became the best gift his father ever gave him. By the following year, at age 6, Paquito had made his debut at a party celebrating the end of the academic year at his school – performing the Habanera,“Tu”, written by the Cuban Composer Eduardo Sanchez. The rest is history!

In Cuba, his Dad’s business, while he was himself a musician, was selling instruments, books, and musical accessories in the heart of Havana where he made many friends. It was not unusual for the young Paquito to see Cachao, Arturo “Chico” O’Farrill, Bebo Valdes, Chocolate Armenteros, Ernesto Lecuona…and many more visiting, all of which influenced him greatly. In his tiny office, his father had big RCA phonographs and textbooks from the conservatory of Paris which helped initiate Paquito’s style in elements of the French school created by Marcel Mule.

But it was the 1938 recording of Benny Goodman at Carnegie Hall with Lionel Hampton, Gene Krupa, Harry James, Teddy Wilson etc. that made the young Paquito long to come to New York. His Dad also exposed him to other various styles and composers and then started getting him on radio and TV shows, into theatres and nightclubs. Paquito was probably the “smallest saxophonist in the world”!

“50 Years and 10 Nights of Show Business” – TRIBUTE to PAQUITO D’RIVERA is presented by FUJITSU and Produced by Pat Philips and Ettore Stratta. Many great artists from Paquito’s musical life will surround him at his ‘party’ at Carnegie Hall including Legendary Cuban Pianist Bebo Valdes, Superstar Cellist Yo-Yo Ma, Dominican Jazz Pianist Michel Camilo, Brazilian Vocal songstress Rosa Passos, Extraordinary Vibist Dave Samuels with Andy Narell on steelpan, Legendary Cuban Percussionist, CANDIDO, Vocal ensemble The New York Voices, Top Brazilian trumpeter Claudio Roditi, Brazilian guitar virtuoso Romero Lubambo, Argentine Piano master Pablo Ziegler, Dancer Manuel Amargo, las Hemanas Marques, Columbian Virtuoso Harpist Edmar Castanedo, Soprano Brenda Feliciano, The Youth Orchestra of the Americas, and Conductors Pablo Zinger and Tania Leon.

His Band is comprised of Alon Yavni on piano, Bassists Oscar Stagnaro and Sergio Brandao, Mark Walker on drums, Pernell Saturnino on percussion, & Ralph Irizarry on Timbales.

Paquito, in his endearing and humorous way, will be your Host, telling stories and performing with most of the above mentioned. He will weave in and out of the various styles of music he has been associated with from Jazz, Latin Jazz, Brazilian music, Tango, Classical, and Pop (Gershwin) showing his improvisational skills all the way. This night will rebound with fabulous music, humor, stories, rhythms of Latin America and Jazz, and just pure joy for a very deserved and celebrated musician.

He is one of the most beloved artists in our business, a young man who rose out of Cuban isolation and made his way to America to find “music” and found “musical stardom” and the world waiting for his talent as saxist, clarinetist, composer, arranger, conductor. He has performed the world over with a who’s who in music and continues to do so. An admirer of Astor Piazzolla, Paco de Lucia, the lyricist Jose Antonio Mendez, and the music of Antonio Carlos Jobim…taste is reflected in all his work as is his rhythmic abilities and improvisational skills…a true all around musical genius.

Carnegie Hall will be jumping, swaying, and swooning from the celebration of PAQUITO D’RIVERA on January 10th at the great hall, Carnegie Hall. He has it all and is ready to ‘show off’ upon this milestone of his career. Be there!

Primary Sponsor/Presenter:

FUJITSU Limited

Additional Sponsors:
CONTINENTAL AIRLINES
CHIVAS REGAL SCOTCH WHISKY
JOCOB’S CREEK WINES FROM AUSTRALIA

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