Two of my favorite artists are people with great sense of humor, and they were very serious artists.

One is Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and the other one is Dizzy Gillespie.

Both of them totally nuts.

♪ I met Dizzy Gillespie in 1977 in a very peculiar way.

Everything with Dizzy was peculiar.

[Laughs] I arrived in my house, and there was a paper bag, handwritten.

"Paquito, we have been looking for you.

"¿Dónde estabas?".

And then in Spanish, [Bip].

I said, "What is this?"

"Dizzy Gillespie."

This had to be a joke.

And I went to the corner.

Jesus el bodeguero.

Jesus was there and said, "Did you receive the note?"

I said, "What note?

"What are you talking about?"

He said, "There was a guy here, "a black guy, chubby, "dressed like Sherlock Holmes, "looking for you."

That had to be Dizzy Gillespie.

That's impossible.

And then, like an hour later, I received a visit of the police.

I said, "I didn't do nothing."

They said, "No, no, no.

"There is a group of American musicians here.

"We want you, with the group and Chucho, "to play with them."

That evening, we played a concert.

It was fantastic.

Dizzy was like a mentor for me, like a blessing for me.

♪