Letters to Yeyito. Lessons from a Life in Music

A captivating memoir from one of jazz's most beloved practitioners, fourteen-time Grammy winner Paquito D?Rivera?s Letters to Yeyito is a fascinating tour of a life lived in music, and a useful guidebook for aspiring artists everywhere.

Early in his career, when he was making a narre for himself in Havana as the founder and bandleader of the popular Cuban Orchestra of Modern Music, Paquito D'Rivera received an ardent letter from a young aspiring musician who wanted ta know how to forge a musical career. The letter was signad "Yeyito," but there was no return address. Over the decades, as D'Rivera's own career and legend grew, that letter always stuck with him. Finally, he decided to respond to Yeyto and the other music lovers he's met in a series of letters about his life -about persevering under Castro's brand of socialism for years before defecting to New York; collaborating with Dizzy Gillespie, Stan Getz, Yo-Yo Ma, and other greats; and lessons learned during his six-decade-long journey in the arts.
Written with the imagination and trademark exuberante that D'Rivera has brought to his music, Letters to Yeyito combines the wildness and lyricism of Charles Mingus's classic Beneath the Underdog with the heartfelt guidance and missionary zeal of Wynton Marsalis's To a Young Jazz Musician, making it an immensely appealing read for music aficionados and casual listeners alike

CONTENIDO:

Dear Yeyito
Dizzy Gillespie
Sherlock Holmes in Havana
All Aboard!
A Musician's Thing
The Elephant and his Three Tigers
The Hard One
On the Road with Yo-Yo Ma
Shark
Brazil
Latin Jazz, the Musical Interpretation of Spanglish
The Guitar
His Majesty, the Piano
Bebo de Cuba
The Piano and the Thousand Cans of Milk
Havana, Enchanted Paradise
Saxophone vs. Clarinet
New York, New York
$$$
Coda

About the Author and Translator