Research Catalog

Title

Interview with Paquito D'Rivera [videorecording].

Author

D'Rivera, Paquito, 1948-

Publication

2008.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Additional Authors

• Ruffin, Mark.
• Jazz at Lincoln Center (Organization)
• Doris Duke Charitable Foundation.

Description

1 videodisc (49 min.) : sd., col.; 4 3/4 in.

Summary

Paquito D'Rivera speaks with Mark Ruffin about clarinet playing in jazz; awards in 2008 including Grammy, Frankfurt Music Prize, being honored by the city of Hartford, C.T., and receiving the key to Union City, N.J.; his memoir "My Sax Life"; importance of parents to his career; his father, Tito Rivera, who was a classical saxophone player who loved standards; his father bringing home the first jazz record he ever heard which remains his favorite: Benny Goodman "Live at Carnegie Hall" recorded in 1938; how that album planted the desire to become a jazz musician in New York City; how his mother worked as a clothing designer and made his suit for his first public performance at the age of six; father teaching him the curve soprano saxophone in just nine months when he was five years old; father managing an office where he imported instruments; father's office being frequented by Cuban musicians such as Ernesto Lecuona, Cachao Lopez, Chocolate Armentero, Mario Bauza, Chico O'Farill, and Celia Cruz' husband, Pedro Knight; being surrounded by musicians since an early age; seeing Chucho Valdes play for the first time; jazz music being underrated in Cuba; the intellectual nature of bebop destroying the popularity of jazz by eliminating the element of dance - no one dancing to bebop; his father bringing home a Charlie Parker record and how after listening the first time both declaring they did not like it; repeatedly listening to the record to develop his ear for bebop; joining the bebop movement because music "cannot stay in one place forever"; his three years in the military - playing for the symphonic military band and not allowed to listen to or play jazz; dictatorships and governmental suppression of music; music as the epitome of freedom of expression; Cuba in the 1960s and 1970s; challenges of playing jazz and being a jazz lover in Cuba; how popularity of jazz music outside the country helped Cuban jazz musicians; touring outside of Cuba and having to bring along a government official to oversee payments and negotiations; coming to the United States in 1978 - after the Havana Jam; a cruise ship of jazz stars that brought Dizzy Gillespie to Cuba and led to their meeting, playing together, and the beginning of their friendship; the Havana Jam; political restraints on concert attendance and how the people of Cuba and musicians of Cuba could not attend concerts; writing his memoir "My Sax Life" in a jazzy way - as if it were a piece of music each band member were contributing to, using contributors such as Dave Samuels, Andy Narel, and Milcho Leviev; getting out of Cuba; having to leave his wife and son behind; the price of freedom; getting in trouble with the government; having parents with rich sense of humor; coming to New York City; Chicago; his first band in the United States; various styles of improvisational music; Caribbean Jazz Project; working with Andy Narel; his love of classical music and playing the clarinet; music of Cuba; his performance at Jazz at Lincoln Center; Cuba's adaptation of big bands and baseball; Dizzy Gillespie as musician; coming to the states and playing with Dizzy and his band; the United Nations Orchestra; what Dizzy Gillespie means to him; future plans including another book, a Cuban opera, and a contra bass concerto dedicated to Cachao.

Series Statement

Duke jazz histories

Uniform Title

Duke jazz histories.

Subjects

• Gillespie, Dizzy, 1917-1993 > Influence
• Jazz musicians > Interviews
• Cuba > Social conditions
• Musicians > Cuba > Interviews
• Goodman, Benny, 1909-1986 > Influence
• Clarinetists > Interviews
• D'Rivera, Paquito, 1948- > Interviews
• Cachao > Influence
• Rivera, Tito

Note

• Interview with Paquito D'Rivera conducted by Mark Ruffin, in New York, N.Y., on Dec. 5, 2008.

Event (note)

• This interview was videotaped at the Oral History Studio of The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts in New York City on December 5, 2008, by Penny Ward.

Funding (note)

• Recording made possible by a grant from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation.

System Details (note)

• DVD.

Call Number

*LDV 1235

OCLC

312483701

Author

D'Rivera, Paquito, 1948- Interviewee

Title

Interview with Paquito D'Rivera [videorecording].

Imprint

2008.

Series

Duke jazz histories

Duke jazz histories.

Event

This interview was videotaped at the Oral History Studio of The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts in New York City on December 5, 2008, by Penny Ward.

Funding

Recording made possible by a grant from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation.

System Details

DVD.

Added Author

Ruffin, Mark. Interviewer

Jazz at Lincoln Center (Organization)

Doris Duke Charitable Foundation.

Research Call Number

*LDV 1235