D’Rivera jazzes up Columbia music series

November 08, 2006

Cuban musician to give performance and clinic highlighting "undefined" but critically acclaimed style of jazz fusion.

By Molly Fergus
Published in Adelante, November 8, 2006

Musical instruments are like women, Cuban jazz artist Paquito D'Rivera says: "They are all different, but all of them have their own attractive thing."

That's D'Rivera's answer when asked whether he prefers the saxophone or the clarinet, both of which he learned to play at age 5. That all-embracing attitude may be a hint of what concert-goers can expect when the Paquito D'Rivera Quintet takes the Missouri Theatre stage Nov. 30 for the annual Carlos Perez-Mesa Memorial Concert.

"I always think of his music as a combination of jazz and some classical elements ... even some folkloric kind of elements. It's really beautiful music," said Jon Poses, executive director of the "We Always Swing" Jazz Series, which hosts the memorial concert.

The concert will be D'Rivera's first in Columbia and one of four he'll play in the Midwest. Other stops include a concert in Sioux Falls, S.D., and at the University of Iowa in Iowa City. He will also run a free jazz workshop at the Missouri Theater Nov. 30. D'Rivera, a 2005 National Endowment of the Arts Jazz Master, is perhaps best known for his music's fusion of jazz and classical, which he said the concert and clinic will showcase.

"We try to do a journey through the music of Latin America," D'Rivera said. "Jazz is the music of a multinational, a multicultural society. We are trying to incorporate the elements of the music of Latin America from Mexico to Argentina to Cuba to Venezuela and Brazil."

Just as D'Rivera likes to experiment with tunes from around the world, he prefers not to define his style. He says he just wants to make music.

"Someone once told me that there are only two types of music: good music and bad music," he said. "(People put a lot of divisions) between classical and jazz and pop and all that. We just try to play music."

By all professional standards, D'Rivera's music falls under the "good" category.

Aside from from the Jazz Master recognition, he's racked up eight Grammy awards in nearly 30 years. In 2005, President Bush gave D'Rivera a National Medal of the Arts.

"I don't let that make too much of an impact on my behavior because many great artists never receive awards," D'Rivera said about his recent recognition.

D'Rivera is someone Poses has wanted to bring to Columbia for several years.

"One of the goals (of the Jazz Series) is to present the world's greatest musicians, who happen to play jazz," Poses said. "In the twelve years we've been in existence, we've probably done 200 concerts or so. He's never been here before."

The Jazz Series has held the memorial concert every year since 2000, at which a Cuban musician or group generally performs. The concert honors Carlos Perez-Mesa, a Cuban pathologist who died of cancer and was actively involved in the Columbia jazz scene.