CCMusic.com

• Track Listing

The magical world of the great Cuban-American woodwind master Paquito D'Rivera continues to expand. Over his seven decades in music, D'Rivera has become engaged with musicians hailing from locations all throughout the world. His most recent release, La Fleur de Cayenne, highlights his work with an ensemble of Cuban expatriates and a Colombian vibraphonist who call Madrid, Spain home with a group they call the Madrid-New York Connection Band.

D'Rivera has called the United States home since the early 1980s, his arrival creating a spark in New York City's jazz and Latin music communities. His interest in the music and collaborations with musicians from different origins have made D'Rivera a magnetic personality, continually attracting individuals interested in incorporating his brilliant sounds on clarinet and saxophone into their music.

In the late 1990s, D'Rivera was enjoying a quiet evening at his New Jersey home when a car pulled up nearby. A handful of young musicians called out to him, explaining that they were Cuban musicians living in Spain who wanted to see where D'Rivera lived. That was how D'Rivera met Pepe Rivero, a pianist and composer originally from Manzanillo, thus beginning a long and fruitful musical relationship.

Rivero introduced D'Rivera to other Cubans living in Spain, including drummer Georvis Pico, percussionist Yuvisney Aguilar, and bassist Reinier "El Negrón" Elizarde. While in Spain, D'Rivera would regularly reunite with these fantastic musicians along with the Colombian vibraphonist Sebastián Laverde.

After nearly two decades of inspired collaborations, D'Rivera and the Spanish contingent have come together to form the Madrid-New York Connection Band and record their first album together, La Fleur de Cayenne. The recording was done in Madrid in December 2024 and features original songs by D'Rivera and Rivero along with a wide-ranging program of music with Latin roots, from Cuban son to Argentinean folk song and tango.

The program begins with D'Rivera's "La Fleur de Cayenne," a deftly challenging Venezuelan joropo, that allows D'Rivera's clarinet to dance with Laverde's vibes and churning percussion. The fantastic Spanish harmonica player Antonio Serrano is featured on Bebo Valdes' "Miriam," the piece unfurling with Rivero's romantic piano and D'Rivera's warm alto sound over a lush harmonic bed. Rivero's "Paq-Man in La Pampa" leans into an Argentinian chacarera as the band swings and sways to D'Rivera's clarinet.