Jazz fans at UCPAC’s Hamilton Stage in Rahway, NJ this Saturday, June 6, 2026 evening ready themselves for the first of two shows by the Dizzy Gillespie All Stars. Led by Gillespie’s longtime bassist, John Lee, tonight’s performance also features multi-Grammy award winning saxophonist and clarinetist, Paquito D’Rivera.
The lights dim and the crowd cheers as trumpeter Freddie Hendrix, pianist Alex Collins, and drummer Carl Latham join Lee on stage. Opening tonight’s show with “To Her Ladyship,” the warm tone of Hendrix’s horn fills the theater on this groove-driven Freddie Hubbard composition.
Lee welcomes Paquito D’Rivera to the stage who recalls, “Dizzy was a great musician and a funny man who loved Latin music.” Deftly backed by the All Stars on his original Latin-jazz composition, “I Remember Diz,” D’Rivera bends notes on his clarinet before engaging the audience by humorously incorporating snippets of Gillespie’s “Salt Peanuts” and The Champs’ “Tequila” into his performance.
D’Rivera switches over to alto sax and echoes Hendrix’s trumpet on the Gillespie Afro-Cuban jazz standard, “Tin Tin Deo,” where Alex Collins impresses with lightning fast runs on the piano.
Lee’s bass starts off Miles Davis’ “Seven Steps to Heaven,” a fast cool jazz tune featuring a trumpet/sax duet and a precision Carl Latham drum solo.
D’Rivera handles the rolling melody of “Manhã de Carnaval” on the clarinet, deeply connecting with the audience as he plays the mellow and haunting samba tune with feeling.
As the piece — also referred to as “Black Orpheus” — continues, Hendrix solos above the rhythm section on flugelhorn before Lee plays up and down the neck of his bass to the crowd’s delight.
D’Rivera echoes Hendrix’s trumpet lines on “Tanga” before making this Gillespie Afro-Cuban piece sing on alto sax.
D’Rivera exits the stage leaving Lee and the band to perform a tribute to Miles Davis. Stepping into “I Thought About You,” Hendrix starts the slow ballad on his horn, picking up in speed and intensity before Collins renders stylized trills on the piano and Hendrix winds down the piece to the crowd’s approval.
D’Rivera returns and the quintet launches into Gillespie’s swinging “Berk’s Works” where Paquito soars on a clarinet solo incorporating staccato trills into his improvisation before he and Hendrix face one another as they duet together.
The All Stars conclude the show with D’Rivera’s original Brazilian tune, “To Brenda With Love.” Following D’Rivera’s presentation of the upbeat samba’s melody on alto sax, Collins impresses both D’Rivera and the crowd with his Bach-like baroque piano solo.
D’Rivera joins in playing counterpoint on alto before the entire band concludes the piece to audience hoots, hollers, and an enthusiastic standing ovation.
For more information about John Lee and the Dizzy Gillespie All Stars, please go to dizzygillespie.org. For further info on Paquito D’Rivera, please click on paquitodrivera.com. To learn more about upcoming performances at Rahway, NJ’s UCPAC — including Broadway’s Shoshana Bean on September 18 and Brian McKnight on October 17 — please navigate to ucpac.org.
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