Funk Tango Wins GRAMMY
Boosey and Hawkes to Represent D'Rivera Compositions
IAJE President's Award
Nomination for "Best Latin Jazz Recording"
Interview about Funk Tango
Kimmel Center Review in All About Jazz
2007 Latin Grammy Nomination
Album of the Week
Funk Tango makes NY Times Critics' Choice
Paquito Records releases Funk Tango
Guggenheim Fellowship Award
Jazz in Our Time Award
Composer In-Residence at Caramoor
Best Clarinetist Award
100 Most Influential
Jazz Exhibition at the Smithsonian
NEA Jazz Master
Book release of "My Sax Life"
Tribute at Carnegie Hall
Paquito D'Rivera Receives Frankfurt Music Prize
The Frankfurt Music Prize was founded in 1980 and is awarded annually by the Trustees of the Frankfurt Music Prize Foundation to personalities from the world of music for special achievements in the fields of interpretation, composition, musicology and teaching. The prize is presented each year on the eve of the International Musikmesse (March 11, 2008).
Funk Tango Wins GRAMMY!
Funk Tango won Category 50 for "Best Latin Jazz Album"
D'Rivera Signs with Boosey and Hawkes
Boosey and Hawkes is now representing Mr. D'Rivera's compositions.
Video Interview at Jazz at Lincoln Center
This month, "The Mouthpiece" on the website of Jazz at Lincoln Center, you can view a video interview with Paquito D'Rivera about his appearance at the "Afro-Cuban Fiesta!" in the Rose Theater, Feb. 22 and 23.
D'Rivera
Receives IAJE President's Award
On January 9, Paquito D'Rivera was presented the IAJE President's Award by the International Association of Jazz Educators. The award recognizes outstanding leaders in the jazz community and honors D'Rivera "for his incalculable impact on the evolution and perpetuation of the Jazz Art Form and for his tremendous commitment and support for Jazz education."
The award was presented in Toronto, Canada, where the annual IAJE Conference was held.
Photo by R. Andrew Lepley
D'Rivera Honored by Cuban Cultural Center of New York
On December 8 the Cuban Cultural Center of New York presented Paquito D’Rivera with their highest honor. In recognition of his "prodigious talent, long career and exceptional contribution to Cuban culture," he received the Medalla Ignacio Cervantes award. The festive evening at Weill Recital Hall (Carnegie Hall) featured many of his musical compositions, including "Fiddle Dreams," "Contradanza and Vals Venezolano," "Danzoncito," "Kites", "Song for Peace," and selected songs from Paquito's newest work, a zarzuela, "Cecilio Valdés, Rey de La Habana."
Funk
Tango Nominated for "Best Latin Jazz Recording"
On December 6, the Recording Academy announced the 50th GRAMMY Nominees. Among the many notables of the music industry, Paquito D’Rivera’s Quintet’s new album, Funk Tango, has been nominated for "Best Latin Jazz Recording." Funk Tango, the premiere recording of Paquito Records, is a Critic’s Choice pick of the New York Times. The 50th Annual GRAMMY Awards will be held on February 10, 2008, and broadcast on television at 8 pm (Eastern time) on CBS.
FUNK Meets TANGO
Interview with Paquito D'Rivera
The New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC), interviewed Paquito D'Rivera, featured in their Alternate Routes Latin Jazz Weekend, and who is also a resident of New Jersey. D'Rivera's Quintet performed at the Center on Oct. 27 with selections from his new grammy nominated album Funk Tango.
Paquito D'Rivera Quintet with the Count Basie Orchestra
Review of Philadelphia Concert at the Kimmel Center
The popular guide All About Jazz, reviewed the first concert of the Mellon Jazz Fridays series on September 28 held at the Kimmel Center in Verizon Hall based in Philadelphia, PA. You can read the full article at All About Jazz.
2007 Latin GRAMMY Nomination
8th Latin GRAMMY Awards
Nomination Best Latin Jazz Album
(Field 10, Jazz Category 33)
Funk Tango - Paquito D'Rivera Quintet
(Paquito Records)
The 8th Annual Latin GRAMMY Awards nominations, announced on August 29, listed Paquito D'Rivera Quintet's Funk Tango album as one of the nominees for Best Latin Jazz Album. The 8th Annual Latin Grammy Awards will be held November 8, in Las Vegas, Univision Network, 8-11 pm ET/PT.
Album of the Week
May 31 - Review of Funk Tango by Chip Boaz
Blogger and jazz musician Chip Boaz (Bass)
reviews Funk Tango on "Latin,
Jazz, and the Bass."
Funk Tango - Critics' Choice
May 21 - Critics' Choice of New CDs with The New York Times
On May 21, The
New York Times reviews Paquito D'Rivera Quintet's new Funk
Tango album in the New CDs Critics' Choice column. Available
for purchase at Sunnyside
Records (for the CD) and 
.
Paquito Records Releases Funk Tango
Paquito D'Rivera introduces Paquito Records
First Release -Funk Tango Paquito D'Rivera Quintet?
With over fifty recordings in the varied musical styles that he loves to perform and create, Paquito finally has a label where he can be completely himself. Paquito D'Rivera Quintet? Funk Tango, refers to the fact that the quintet, in Paquito's world can sometimes be a trio or a sextet, or an orchestra, or a duo. The core musicians on the record are Mark Walker on drums, Oscar Stagnaro on bass, Diego Urcola on trumpet and valve-trombone, Alon Yavnai on piano, joined by Pernell Saturnino on percussion, Hector Del Curto on bandoneon, additional pianists Ed Simon, (an old band member), and Fernando Otero, and newcomer Pablo Stagnaro on cajon. This recording features original compositions from many band members, and highlights their diversity of styles in composition and performance. You will surely enjoy the journey, from a funky tango, to Peruvian rhythms on "Mariela's Dream", to the elegant Cuban "Contradanza", by way of a bolero, to a waltz, samba, and milonga, to the closing jazz standard "Giant Steps".
Guggenheim Fellowship Awards, 2007
Paquito D'Rivera Awarded 2007 Fellowship in Music Composition
Results of the John
Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation’s eighty-third annual
United States and Canadian competition have been announced. The 2007
Fellowship winners include 189 artists, scholars, and scientists
selected from almost 2,800 applicants. Guggenheim Fellows are appointed
on the basis of distinguished achievement in the past and exceptional
promise for future accomplishment.
Banner hanging outside the Kennedy Center
Jazz in Our Time All-Star Opening Night Concert and Award Ceremony
Kennedy Center, Washington, DC
On March 3, the Kennedy
Center (Washington, DC) presented an event “a salute to
a generation of extraordinary artists who have helped make jazz America’s
greatest music.” The awards ceremony, hosted by James Earl
Jones, honored an impressive roster of jazz luminaries with the “Living
Jazz Legend Award” for their lifetime contributions to the
art form. Paquito D’Rivera, among the more than 25 distinguished
recipients, will be performing with the Hank
Jones Quartet on March 10. This performance is part of the Jazz
in Our Time series celebrating the honorees at the Kennedy Center.
Living Jazz Legend Award
Recipients
(Paquito D'Rivera is top row, 3rd from right)
Award Recipients:
Toshiko Akiyoshi, David Baker, Louie Bellson, Dave Brubeck, Donald
Byrd, Ornette Coleman, Paquito D'Rivera, Sir John Dankworth, Buddy
DeFranco, Frank Foster, Curtis Fuller, Benny Golson, Chico Hamilton,
Barry Harris, Jimmy Heath, Jon Hendricks, Freddie Hubbard, Ahmad
Jamal, Al Jarreau, Hank Jones, Dame Cleo Laine, Michel Legrand, Abbey
Lincoln, Wynton Marsalis, Marian McPartland, James Moody, George
Russell, Jimmy Scott, Dr. Billy Taylor, Cecil Taylor, Clark Terry,
Frank Wess, Gerald Wilson, Nancy Wilson, and Phil Woods.
Composer in Residence
Paquito D'Rivera as 2007-2008
Caramoor Composer-in-Residence
Caramoor
Center for Music and the Arts, just announced it is receiving
$500,000 from the New York State Music Fund towards their Latin American
music initiative, Sonidos Latinos, beginning in 2007. Paquito
D'Rivera is to be named the composer in residence.
Press
release from Caramoor Center
2006 GRAMMY Nomination
2006 Grammy Nomination
Best Jazz Instrumental Solo (category 47)
49th Annual Grammy Awards
Paquito D'Rivera, soloist
“Paq Man” track from the 2006 CD From The Heart /Hilario
Duran And His Latin Jazz Big Band [Alma Records]
Latin GRAMMY Nomination
2006 Latin Grammy Nomination
Best Instrumental Album(category 27)
7th Annual Latin Grammy Awards
The Chamber Jazz Trio [Chesky Records]
Back to the top.
Best Clarinetist Recognition
2006 Clarinetist of the Year Award
Jazz Journalists Association
A yearly honor bestowed by the Jazz Journalists Association, a professional organization of leading jazz journalists, acknowledging the achievements of jazz musicians, recordings, labels, producers, concert presenters, authors, broadcasters, photographers, and other new media outlets. This is the second time Paquito D'Rivera has been awarded this recognition (first awarded in 2004).
Most Influential List
2006 Hispanic Business Magazine
100 Influentials List 2006
Produced by Hispanic Business Magazine, this list recognizes the leading and most prominent Hispanics of today.
President Bush and Mrs. Bush with Paquito D'Rivera.
(White House photo by Eric Draper)
A Good Year for Paquito D'Rivera
President Bush Announces 2005 National Medal
of Arts Recipients
Washington, D.C. - President George W. Bush today announced the recipients of the 2005 National Medal of Arts. Ten medals will be presented by the President and Mrs. Laura Bush in an Oval Office ceremony at the White House on November 10. The National Endowment for the Arts notified the artists of their selection to receive a National Medal of Arts, the nation's highest honor for artistic excellence.
At the Smithsonian
(photo by Brenda Feliciano)
Jazz History at the Smithsonian
March 2005, Jazz Appreciation Month
National Museum of American History
A picture of the March 21, 2005 presentation event showing Paquito and other Latin Jazz luminaries donating personal items, instruments, and compositions to the National Museum of American History.
On the set of Ramsey Lewis program with the NEA Jazz Masters 2005 which includes James Moody, Nancy Wilson,
Ramsey Lewis and Paquito D'Rivera
2005 NEA Jazz Master
In January 2005 the National Endowment
for the Arts named Paquito
D'Rivera an NEA Jazz Master, America's highest honor in jazz.
New English translation of
"My Sax Life"
My Sax Life
A Memoir by Paquito D'Rivera
Meet the Author—Jazz Sensation Paquito D’Rivera
From Washington Post:
"One musician who embodies Nicholson's theory of "globalization" is Paquito D'Rivera, a Cuban-born saxophone and clarinet virtuoso who plays classical music, jazz and Latin dance music with equal skill. A professional musician since the age of 6, D'Rivera has also written a novel, and in My Sax Life (Northwestern Univ., $29.95) he's produced a breathless, sometimes vulgar romp through his life, both before and after his exile from Cuba.
A staunch opponent of Fidel Castro, D'Rivera has no patience for anyone who admires anything about Cuba under communism -- and that includes Nelson Mandela and Gabriel García Márquez. He dramatically describes his 1980 escape, when he sought asylum in Spain and left his wife and son behind. (They were later reunited, but the marriage didn't survive.) D'Rivera recites endless lists of sidemen and recording dates, but he reveals little of his own musical approach, except to praise Brazilian music as "the most balanced formula of rhythm-melody-harmony in the world" and to mock Cuban trumpeters for "playing high-pitched notes that only dogs can hear."Paquito’s autobiography “My Sax Life”is available from Northwestern University Press.
Carnegie Hall - January 10, 2005
FUJITSU Jazz Festival
Tribute to Paquito D'Rivera
“50 Years and 10 Nights of Show Business”
CARNEGIE HALL – January 10th
PAQUITO D’RIVERA celebrated “50 Years and 10 Nights” of show business at CARNEGIE HALL on January 10, 2005, with a star-studded program packed with his musical friends!
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