Exactly one musician has won Grammy Awards in both classical and Latin jazz categories, and this episode explains how Paquito D'Rivera became that person. Born Francisco de Jesus Rivera Figueras in Havana in June 1948, he was raised by a father, Tito, who played classical saxophone and sold instruments while spinning Duke Ellington and Benny Goodman records at home and taking his five-year-old son to the Tropicana. Formal lessons began at five, conservatory study at twelve, and by seventeen he was a featured soloist with the Cuban National Symphony Orchestra. The hosts break down why classical and jazz demand physically different embouchures and how learning both concurrently as a child let him switch instantly.

That bilingualism became a liability when the Cuban government labeled jazz and rock as imperialist. The episode details how Irake ...