Paquito D'Rivera & The United Nations Orchestra

Cuban bandleader/reeds player Paquito D'Rivera was a child prodigy heavily influenced by the recordings of Parker and Coltrane. In the '70s, he worked with Irakere, a Cuban collective that mixed jazz, rock, classical, and traditional Cuban music to smoldering effect. His first recordings as a leader (after defecting in the early '80s) continued to straddle American and Cuban styles. An integral part of Dizzy Gillespie's last group, the United Nations Orchestra, Paquito took over leadership after Dizzy's death in '93, carrying on this Afro-Cuban jazz tradition with vitality and invention.

• Arturo Sandoval
• Claudio Roditi
• Danilo Perez
• Dizzy Gillespie
• Fareed Haque

• Bebo Valdes
• Benny Goodman
• Charlie Parker
• Chico O'Farrill & His Orchestra
• Dizzy Gillespie
• John Coltrane/Don Cherry (Jazz)
• Lee Konitz
• Mario Bauza

• Jerry Gonzalez
• Spirit Of Life Ensemble

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