And, he'd seen me in Panama, and he talked about maybe doing something in New York so I hooked it up when I came here and I recorded in 1969 my first album with Pete Rodriguez.

I came to New York with $500 and I had to live on that, but thankfully I was taken up by photographers quickly.

I came to New York in 1962 and it began to look like I might he able to make a living in 1972.

I was the first person to come into New York with a Latin American point of view which was also very much influenced by political happenings in Latin America.

I'm an improviser. I came up doing improv at the U.C.B. Theater in New York for seven years. That's where I started, so improv is what I love.

As I came to New York, it was for me a new beginning. To discover what people are living here. What do they need, what do they expect, what would they like to be the image and the performance of the New York Philharmonic?