like you have folk music where the blues come from, and folk music from latin america, folk muc fr south ameca. so this is the idea of pan-american jazz, actually-- connecting the whole americas to one sound. >> hinojosa: so you've named this. you call it pan-american jazz? >> well, it's a movement, i think. it's a movement that started in the 20th century with a lot of people doing it. you know, i learned a lot from paquito, for example. he really... >> hinojosa: paquito d'rivera. >> yes, paquito d'rivera, great cuban saxophonist. he introduced me to a lot of music, playing venezuelan waltzes, playing old contradances. and the desire... a lot of the desire to combine folkloric material with traditional rhythms, with latin american song forms, with jazz, is something that was fascinating to me. >> hinojosa: how did you know that it was jazz for you? how did you know that... jazz? i mean, you could have, you know, ended up playing in an orchestra, you could have... what was it? what is it about you understanding that jazz is your musical expression? >> well, the first thing was i noticed from e