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My Sax Life: A Memoir (Latino Voices/Vidas)

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Paquito d'Rivera is an undisputed virtuoso on saxophone and clarinet in both the jazz and classical worlds. One of the great innovators of Latin jazz in modern times, Paquito has always been at the forefront of the movement. Unless you are familiar with his random writings in numerous publications, most people were unaware of Paquito's talent of prose in Spanish and English. After penning his novel, Oh, La Habana! and the Spanish version of his memoirs, he has now released his memoirs in English or his anti-biography as he prefers to call it. Much like his lyrical improvisational style, Paquito d'Rivera's book is filled with his trademark humor and wit, bounces between decades here and abroad and includes personal antidotes and stories as well as those of his closest friends and collaborators. Destined to becoming one of the great jazz memoirs of all time, and definitely a must read for this year's music book releases, My Sax Life is highly recommended.

A Cuban musician's day-to-day struggle may be appreciated in the reading of My Sax Life, a compilation of the memoirs of Paquito D'Rivera, a Cuban-born, Grammy winning jazz saxophonist and clarinetist who defected from Cuba in 1980. Paquito talks of Castro's censure which suppressed British and American' influences in Cuban music. The censure prevented Cuban musicians from playing anything resembling jazz or rock and roll during a period of several years during the 60's and 70's, depending on the Cuban tyrant's whims. Various stories throughout the book tell of a musician's search for artistic freedom and expression under the tight grip of Castro's police state censors, while struggling on in the daily life of a typical Cuban in search of consumer goods. Paquito also tells of Cuba's restrictions of travel on suspected dissidents that could potentially defect. D'Rivera's knowledge of music is apparent and his ability to name everybody he ever played with is impressive. Although his writing is somewhat hard to follow, it is infused with zest and good humor and it is a statement by an artist on his art and his life.