Paquito D’Rivera
Paquito D’Rivera was born on June 4, 1948 in Havana, Cuba, amidst a musical family. His father Tito, a classical saxophonist, conductor, and music shop owner, began Paquito’s music studies at age 5. Two years later, 7 year old Paquito became Selmer Instruments’ youngest endorsee. Tito spent hours creating orchestral transcriptions for young Paquito to play, exposing him to a wide classical repertoire. By the age of 10, Paquito performed as a featured soloist on both saxophone and clarinet in Cuba and beyond. He began studies at the Havana Conservatory of Music in 1960, focusing upon clarinet, saxophone, and composition. In 1965, the Cuban National Symphony Orchestra, featured D’Rivera as a soloists and then he served mandatory military time, playing with the Army Band. D’Rivera joined several of Cuba’s top musicians in 1967, playing a variety of jazz and popular music in the Orquesta Cubana de Musica Moderna. D’Rivera eventually became the Orquesta’s director, until the Cuban government silenced his performance career. Two years later, a group of Orquesta musicians interested in jazz, including pianist Chucho Valdes and bassist Carlos Del Puerto, joined with D’Rivera in 1972 to form Irakere. The group disguised their jazz passion in Cuban tradition, creating an exciting new musical mixture. The band toured extensively to international praise, receiving a Grammy award in 1979 for The Best of Irakere. In 1981, D’Rivera, tired of Cuban politics, fled while on tour in Spain and claimed political asylum. He moved to New York and soon joined the jazz inner circle, playing with Dizzy Gillespie and Mario Bauza. D’Rivera released his first album as a leader the same year, Paquito Blowin, which was followed in 1982 by Mariel. Over the next several years, D’Rivera built his career with a steady stream of recordings, including the 1984 album Why Not, the 1986 release Manhattan Burn, and 1987’s Celebration. D’Rivera began performing with Gillespie’s United Nations Orchestra in 1988, a big band that he would lead after Gillespie’s death. While D’Rivera’s jazz career blossomed, he maintained his classical abilities, performing as a featured soloist with the National Symphony Orchestra at a 1988 premier of the piece “David Street Blues,” then composing “New York Suite” for the Gerald Danovich Saxophone Quartet in 1989. The early nineties brought a flurry of activity for D’Rivera, recording Reunion with ex-Irakere band mate Arturo Sandoval in 1990, bringing together Miami Cubans Cachao, Juan Pablo Torres, and more for the 1993 album 40 Years of Cuban Jam Sessions, and creating a Gillespie tribute with the United Nations Orchestra, A Night in Englewood, also in 1993. In 1996, D’Rivera received his first Grammy award as a leader for Portraits of Cuba. He became the first artist to win multiple Latin Grammys with awards in 2000 for Historia del Soldado and Brazilian Dreams. As the new millennium continued, he performed with classical guitar duo Sergio and Oidar Assad and recorded with Yo-Yo Ma on the 2003 release Obrigado Brazil. In 2005, D’Rivera received the National Medal for the Arts and was recognized as a NEA Jazz Master. In 2007, the Lincoln Center presented D’Rivera the Living Jazz Legend Award. His group continues to support his 2007 release Funk Tango while D’Rivera also serves as Composer-In-Residence at the Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts. Amid a full musical schedule, D’Rivera continues to be an advocate for musical excellence in all his endeavors.

David Sanchez
Born in September of 1968, David Sanchez grew up in Guaynabo, Puerto Rico, soaking in traditional Cuban, Puerto Rican, and Brazilian music. Inspired by these rhythmic traditions, he began playing percussion at age 8, and soon enrolled in San Juan’s Escuela Libre de Musica. Overwhelmed by the amount of drummers, Sanchez began splitting time between percussion and saxophone when he was 12. Sanchez heard his sister’s jazz records at 15 and fully committed himself to jazz saxophone. Initially struck by Miles Davis and Billie Holiday, he soon delved into John Coltrane, Dizzy Gillespie, and Charlie Parker. After high school, Sanchez spent a year in Puerto Rico studying Psychology and gigging with Salsa bands, before deciding to focus upon music at Rutgers University in New Jersey. While maintaining studies with jazz mentors Kenny Barron and John Hicks, Sanchez spent equal time in New York playing Latin Jazz with Danilo Perez, Paquito D’Rivera, and Claudio Roditi. He soon earned a challenging, high profile job with Eddie Palmieri, which led to a job with Gillespie in 1990. Sanchez toured the world with Gillespie’s sextet, the United Nations Orchestra, and participated in the live recording To Bird with Love: Live at the Blue Note. After Gillespie retired, Sanchez performed with many jazz greats, including Slide Hampton, Jimmy Heath, and Elvin Jones. Starting in 1994, Sanchez recorded his first albums as a leader: The Departure in 1994, 1995’s Sketches of Dreams, and the 1996 album Street Scenes. His 1998 release Obsession used Latin classics as a foundation to combine Sanchez’s jazz quintet with string ensemble; this release earned Sanchez a Grammy nomination. He then collaborated with Charlie Haden on Nocturne and Steve Turre on TNT (Trombone-N-Tenor) before releasing another Grammy nominated album, 2001’s Travesía. His 2004 recording Coral again placed his quintet among Latin classics, this time with the Prague Philharmonic Orchestra performing arrangements by Carlos Franzetti. This album earned yet another Grammy nomination and won a Latin Grammy. In 2007, Sanchez signed a new contract with Concord Records, continuing his unique blend of jazz and Latin music far into the future.

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