Child prodigy, Paquito D'Rivera began playing clarinet and saxophone with the Cuban National Symphony Orchestra at an early age. Many influences can be found in his music. His Orquesta Cubana de Musica Moderna and Irakere plays a mixture of Rock, Jazz, Classical and traditional Cuban music.

Paquito was a soloist with Dizzy Gillespie's United Nations Orchestra, of which he was a founding member. He has received rave reviews throughout his career, which has taken him around the world.

Paquito came to LP® to talk with me about coming to America and starting his own group. He spoke about his appreciation for my work and called it "a noble cause for the creation of percussion instruments" from Cuba, his native country.

It was a rare pleasure to have Paquito perform on both the clarinet and the alto saxophone exclusively for congahead.com.

Listen to Paquito speak with me about his career and watch him perform in an exclusive movie for congahead.com.