Dancing with Destiny
"Dancing with Destiny" — one of my early paintings that I still love. It set me free long ago in my quest for freedom of expression. Since day one, I’ve always told myself: Give it all you’ve got — it might be the last one. And it works!
I’ve been around for a while, long enough to see how the world has changed — and to remember when genius moved differently. I was lucky, truly lucky, to have been surrounded by genuine brilliance from an early age. Real people. Real conversations. The kind that lasted long into the night and left your soul humming.
In my youth, I met legends — Tito Puente, Joe Cuba, Machito, Frankie Malabe, Jackie Masonet, Beaver Harris, Lenny White — men who taught me the power of being yourself, of never letting the world’s noise drown out your own rhythm. Through my uncles’ circle, I met a slew of Latin greats whose passion burned like sunlight. During my school years, I crossed paths with Leonard Bernstein and Beverly Sills — masters who taught me that greatness has nothing to prove.
Later, the road led me to musicians who shaped sound itself: Dee Dee Sharp, Dom Um Romão, Don Alias, Jaco Pastorius, Dizzy Gillespie, Stan Getz, Clifford Jordan, Max Roach, Chubby Checker, Horace Silver, and so many more. I recorded and traveled with Cecil Taylor, Jimmy Lyons, Rev. Frank Wright, William Parker, Raphe Malik, Glen Spearman, Tomasz Stańko, Enrico Rava, Gunter Hampel, , Roy Campbell, and others whose music wasn’t just heard — it was lived. Earth People– Jason Candler, Doug Principato, Francois Grillot, DJ Firehorse, Jeff Hoyer, Mark Hennen, Elliot Levin, Sabir Mateen, Chris Forbes and others. The Return of Litha with Dan Gaydos and Dean Curtis.
And beyond music, I found inspiration in art — in conversations with Robert Rauschenberg, James Rosenquist, and others who painted with light, shadow, and time itself.
What I learned from all of them — musicians, artists, dreamers — was simple: be effervescent about life. Do what you love. Share it freely. Don’t drag yourself down trying to prove something to a world that’s forgotten how to listen.
Today, I see so many caught in a cycle of imitation, a copy of a copy in a cookie-cutter world. The brilliance of yesterday’s minds came from their freedom — not from fitting in, but from standing out without apology.
As for me, I still dance with Destiny. I dance to the beat of life itself, grateful for every step. Let the rest beat themselves up trying to prove brilliance. I’d rather live it.
