![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvZzVbbyV33NoCcsfmJa5m6GmTrpV6p256kkEwy3s8NicGkYCsrJbPi9M_s6JDEqMqp3IpoFgk1MJ1vJCIIxOcfghtT5Xuu1E2DwZ7PSl_zD36KcD0N0B1Si6k5gVLeWCtcp0tqg16aA00MYBGXtCwWaywrCagmYtgAVgyzDQ1EYJZdlDKkEg-cknG/s320/pdr2.jpg)
Let's inaugurate June with a milestone birthday that speaks to the sad, unavoidable fact that I just don't post enough Latin music whatsoever.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRoOqOZkBP_b35IzhlOt0WorwCDFS3Q4Odq0Ev3guzdaYNZJO8EUwOp6cgHSq1fu0jXuKSwJRVBpkntjsrcBOwF-4AvP-Avsf09vLvjAhWICV06KfUIr4lQUKpbHNhY4BWZNSotZgie9VUBZqUkNIA3H5rWgkiqjCjOBsNkoDx2Ta5LBl-_SVDre7e/s320/pdr4.jpg)
Before that he had been a driving force in one of the island's hottest groups, which is still beloved and influential to this day and was called Irakere.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvPaE9g7DmWR3IXQxI1zaj7Tu3VIiffVanYilege3NjD14W5b3XOnMqrQ7ygC06AdmxABTJ-AMVCmZMlQnVnRb_9yhhJU-8byaKSNSy2wxZpgQoqzc78G0-wXHhUv7oM4uIGEhFbUUMtccLF6QfbVEcbVOhINA1qP5GmEKCdCZvHy7bYxjtIm8U_JX/s320/pdr5.webp)
People call him a gusano and whatever -- that's the Cuban worm term for those disloyal to Fidel -- but I personally don't give a fuck if he peed on Castro's cigars as long as the music is fire.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjzZ7BT0rBmMghfdf7XTmUvfr5AJvsDc6vzQ1VQaYpll3Pi8TqwYEsAEdzNubKNSy346rw5afh5krvifD_r3-K9xAn6MoM2amlzTuddZAXdVVFRaMv-Hd88Ro0n20daWFqnDiOYQ1KgvqtWKCC6HASU3AI3LoQZ9oGGTmmxVXLrZmF6tJ497pkoqkZ/s320/pdr6.jpg)
Disliking Paquito D'Rivera for not being sufficiently Communist enough would, for me, be like criticizing Steve Earle for not making concept albums about Leon Czolgosz and Eugene Debs.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh31ffOboXVr23JavskxRnJaKk2eFSYn8YTJKvC608NK1-l3VL5tncpIOQTtsEkJM-fzHfTsaBdPPZQq-4HvICNL_uFFL-DbX2auQmpnwinzkwDHd3CtwOlZgSFqRtq5qKq4YzuvOGqo23i44gaCWQs6pv0rhDbJ_IPyX4QLr76I5EblCHDLrnIP_B2/s320/pdr7.jpg)
Anyway in the 40 years since leaving, he's become a kind of ambassador for Afro-Cuban music all over the world, so there is that.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpmLTfJVrWigNB-TsR5ENroVly5tNcNx9UAX9mvFDd0ATBm9K1PD0Jx9yTZW7A_sHebiOMNq3HQWqidctMQ5qCu4s__0NKJBwJnKyk1lJbD2UzAbYbQdjWzhmYsDXxMLr7OUyTJIQ9w4EvC3qx8XJj_JHW7VwEU5nHKadWn3ABC_t4IRWU4-WCfLOr/s320/pdr8.jpg)
Born in 1948, he is 75 today so we'll fire up these two, half-hour Canadian radio segments that have him leading a pair of quintets in the mid-'80s.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIYVQSoRwHq9IHlLGQZw-faSiVbhIDrammZQJ9UWP51gl6obeJYiQ9jN9riJWHwqsi6XobqTSxUZbccjNv9N3pjOUhHnUHch6qQ4z566KyoU4_Rxg34PWGt7IwXUbyjoxj2rT8kL7qzDN-zPtW1QTWl4nwNpUCcD9wr2yTqdQqQhm3q-I8Nfhl6UZH/s320/pdr9.webp)
Look out for the transcendent trumpet of Claudio Roditi, who just blows his brains out in both of these sets.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEwwVJbq9um9JpCbuUStfXgz0taYXnUW0pDfFz_DUbfZRs01ZoWMnB5I4HKVB7Zmk4fjfsHhsOR98dTxunQZvxZsi3gUpNHDeQFMG1qS_zuhQ0tBdsWCERznYxD9_naZka4qCwAMX4JLBuFJkqY3f7aqSaExtHLg5UvodY20v3FPAnVDxwxcNw0ZWv/s320/PDR8687.jpg)
Paquito D'Rivera Quintets
Ottawa 1985 + Montréal 1987
01 Samba for Carmen McRae
02 Brussels In the Rain
03 Seresta
04 Song to My Son
05 Paquito
06 interview
Total time: 59:36
Tracks 01-03: Opera House, National Arts Centre Ottawa, Ontario Canada likely Summer 1985
Paquito D’Rivera - alto saxophone & clarinet
Claudio Roditi - trumpet
Michel Camillo- piano
Sergio Brandão - bass
Portinho - drums
Tracks 04-06: Festival International de Jazz de Montréal Le Spectrum de Montréal Montréal, Québec Canada 7.4.1987
Paquito D’Rivera - alto saxophone & clarinet
Claudio Roditi - trumpet
Daniel Freiberg - piano
Lincoln Goines - bass
Akira Tana - drums
master off-air FM cassette captures
edited, retracked -- with the two segments volume balanced & start of Track 01 slightly restored -- by EN, June 2023
372 MB FLAC/direct link
372 MB FLAC/direct link