Mario Rivera (musician) City at the age of 67. With Junior Cook With Dizzy Gillespie With Eddie Palmieri With Tito Puente & Eddie Palmieri With The Brian Lynch/Eddie Palmieri Project Mario Rivera (musician) Mario Rivera (July 22, 1939 - August 10, 2007) was a musician, composer and arranger. He was born in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. Although best known as a saxophonist, Rivera doubled on all saxophones family (soprano, alto, tenor and baritone), but he lived as a multi-instrumentalist mastering instruments as C flute, G flute, piccolo, trumpet, piano, vibraphone, melodica, drums, tambora, timbales, bongó, and congas. Rivera was 22 years old when
Dizzy Gillespie his last recording session on January 25, 1992. On November 26, 1992, Carnegie Hall, following the Second Bahá'í World Congress, celebrated Gillespie's 75th birthday concert and his offering to the celebration of the centenary of the passing of Bahá'u'lláh. Gillespie was to appear at Carnegie Hall for the 33rd time. The line-up included Jon Faddis, James Moody, Paquito D'Rivera, and the Mike Longo Trio with Ben Brown on bass and Mickey Roker on drums. But Gillespie didn't make it because he was in bed suffering from pancreatic cancer. "But the musicians played their real hearts out for him, no doubt