Paquito D’Rivera and Friends @ Lincoln Harbor

The Summer Concerts on the Hudson music series in Lincoln Harbor Park inWeehawken continues with a show featuring Latin jazz star and six-time Grammy award winner Paquito D’Rivera.

The North Bergen resident will play with other jazz musicians like Grammy winning pianist and composer Fernando Otero, violinist Andrei Matorin and jazz harpist Edmar Castaneda.

“Jazz music is about improvising among others, so you never know what is going to happen,” said D’Rivera. “It’s a reunion of friends getting together to play some music.”

The multi-instrumentalist said this show will be more than a concert – it will also be part of the campaign for the creation of the Hudson Riverfront Performing Arts Center.

“We need the place badly. Art is not a luxury – it’s a necessity,” he said. “We need an arts center around this area.”

D’Rivera hopes that HRPAC Inc. can get the funds necessary to build their center and vows to do his best to promote the arts as a whole in the area.

“I love playing with all the people and bringing the music to the community. It’s part of my work, part of my passion. I love doing that. I love playing for people to listen to the music.

“It’s nice to see when other musicians from the community – and artists, painters, writers – come to concerts and we interact with each other and exchange ideas. It’s a wonderful thing when that happens.”

The 63-year-old – who has been playing music since he was a young boy – noted that artistic interaction is even more special between neighbors.

“I play all over the world but it’s nice to be able to play my own neighborhood. It’s a different feeling. Sometimes I feel like I’m going to play in my pajamas!”

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