The purpose of this thesis is to examine the cross-cultural fusion of jazz harmony and Afro Caribbean rhythms. These six compositions were chosen for the composers Master's recital to demonstrate how his writing technique was influenced by his cultural and musical experience during his years of study and performance in the United States and abroad. The instrumentation was chosen to exemplify the fusion of the traditional percussive sounds of Latin music with jazz harmony, melody and improvisation. It is important to note that even though one of the compositions, E.T., is not written in a Latin style, it was nonetheless the product of a Puerto Rican composer, and it exemplifies his influences as a cross-cultural composer and soloist. Scores of the six musical works are provided in an Appendix, and a live recording of the recital is included.
