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The
arrival of celebrated trumpet player Arturo Sandoval has been joyfully
applauded throughout the jazz and classical music communities. Granted
political asylum in July 1990, Sandoval, his wife and teenage son made
their new home in Miami, Florida. A protégé of the legendary jazz master Dizzy Gillespie,
Sandoval was born in Artemisa, a small town on the outskirts of Havana,
Cuba, on November 6, 1949, just two years after Gillespie became the first
musician to bring Latin influences into American Jazz. Sandoval
began studying classical trumpet at the age of twelve, but it didn't take
him long to catch the excitement of the jazz world. He has since evolved
into one of the World's most acknowledged guardians of jazz trumpet and
flugelhorn, as well as renowned classical artist.
Sandoval was a founding member of the Grammy Award winning group
Irakere, whose explosive mixture of jazz, classical, rock and traditional
Cuban music caused a sensation throughout the entertainment world. In 1981
he left Irakere to form his own band, which garnered enthusiastic praise
from critics and audiences all over Europe and Latin America. Sandoval was
voted Cuba's Best Instrumentalist from 1982 to 1984. Arturo Sandoval has
had twelve Grammy nominations and has been awarded three.
Before founding Irakere, Sandoval performed with the Cuban
Orchestra of Modern Music. He was presented as a guest artist with the BBC
Symphony in London and the Leningrad Symphony in Russia. Since his
defection, Sandoval has increased his classical performances world wide
including performances with the National Symphony, L.A. Philharmonic,
Pittsburgh Symphony, and National Symphony of Washington D.C.; amongst
others.
As a Professor, Sandoval has lectured internationally and has performed at
the Conservatoire de Paris and the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in the Soviet
Union. Currently, he serves with a full professorship at Florida
International University, and maintains one of the most extensive
educational programs in the industry with approximately fifty performances
and lectures per year at universities and colleges including U.C. Davis,
UCLA, U.S.C., University of Miami, U.C. Santa Barbara, etc., and has
rendered a considerable amount of time working with the NARAS educational
program. There are three scholarships associated with Sandoval, The Arturo
Sandoval's Dizzy Gillespie Trumpet Scholar Award at the University Of
Idaho, the Sandoval Trumpet Scholarship at the Central Oklahoma University
and the Sandoval Trumpet Scholarship at Florida International University.
In 1991 Editions Birn Publishing, in Switzerland, released Brass
Concepts, a method book with original exercises by Sandoval, and in 1995
Hal Leonard Publishing released three more books with recorded CD's that
include Arban as well as more original exercises by Arturo Sandoval.
Sandoval was a featured artist in the acclaimed Dizzy Gillespie United
Nation Orchestra, as well as the orchestra's 1992 Grammy Award winning
album, Live at Royal Festival Hall. He has performed with Billy Cobham,
Woody Herman, Woody Shaw, Herbie Hancock, Michel Legrand, Bill Conti, Stan
Getz, Celine Dion at the Oscars, John Williams at the Boston Pops, and in
the Superbowl with Tony Bennet and Patti LaBelle. His playing can also be
heard on Dave Grusin's soundtrack for Havana, in the Mambo Kings
soundtrack with his Grammy nominated composition Mambo Caliente, in the
soundtrack of The Perez Family, and was commissioned by the Kennedy Center
to compose the music for the ballet of Pepito's Story.
Since his arrival to the US Arturo Sandoval has recorded nine albums as a
soloist, eight of which are Jazz and Latin Jazz and one Classical
Album.
In
November of 2000, HBO released the long awaited "For Love or Country:
The Arturo Sandoval Story". This movie was received with rave reviews
around the world, has garnered many nominations and has received several
prominent awards (see Awards and Affiliations). The docudrama, "For
Love or Country", is based on Arturo Sandoval's life story. It
recounts the struggles and hardships of being a musician in Cuba, his
historic meeting with the legendary Dizzy Gillespie and the love story
between he and his current wife, and his eventual defection to the United
States. The movie is blessed with an incredible soundtrack, recorded by
Arturo Sandoval, and includes mind blowing big band charts as well as lush
ballads. Furthermore, the touching and beautiful underscore was composed
entirely by Arturo Sandoval. Both the Soundtrack as well as the Underscore
were released shortly after the film.
His diverse style and versatility can be heard on albums by the GRP
All Star Big Band and Gloria Estefan's Into the Light and Mi
Tierra, as well as on other albums by Johnny Mathis, Frank Sinatra and
Paul Anka. Since his arrival in the USA, Arturo Sandoval has recorded
eight albums as a soloist, seven of which are jazz and Latin jazz and one
classic album.
Arturo Sandoval reaches beyond the scope of mere effort. His
struggles while in Cuba and since his defection have given him more energy
and strength, urging him to accomplish and surpass his childhood dreams.
Filled with a virtuoso capability, he desires nothing more than to share
his gift with others who feel the same intense adoration for music as he
does. One frequently speaks of Arturo Sandoval's virtuoso technical
ability or his specialty in high notes, but he who has seen him on the
piano, lyrically improvising a ballad, or has had the opportunity to enjoy
the diversity of his music, through his compositions from the most
straight ahead jazz, Latin jazz or classical, knows that Arturo Sandoval
is a prominent musician, and one recognizes that Arturo is one of the most
brilliant and proliferous musicians of our time.
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The
most musical man alive."
MICHAEL
GREEN - President NARAS
"Arturo
Sandoval is the sort of virtuoso artist who comes along only once or twice
in a generation."
LONDON EVENING STAR
"..arguably
the most prodigious trumpeter of his generation.., a showman to the tips
of his toes.., imperiously and dashingly in charge of the resources of his
trumpet.."
THE GUARDIAN
"...Mr.
Sandoval's signature, on everything from jazz standards to the fast-moving
percussive Afro-Cuban pieces that are sprinkled into his performances, is
his piercing work in the stratospheric reaches of his instrument's range,
where his cheeks become as round and red as pomegranates as he reaches
notes and sustains riffs that seem to defy gravity."
NEW YORK TIMES
"Sandoval
reaches notes most trumpet players barely know."
WASHINGTON STAR
Possessing
some of jazz's fiercest chops.."
NEW YORK POST
"...
if you can imagine the burst of a young Gillespie, the roaring of Fats
Navarro and the sweet and light articulation of Clifford Brown, then you
have some idea of what (Sandoval) can do."
LONDON OBSERVER
"He's
one of the best. He has a very athletic style, but can play softly
too. He's got bull chops!"
DIZZY GILLESPIE
"Mr.
Sandoval's playing is unabashedly spectacular, yet he uses his technique
with dramatic finesse."
NEW YORK TIMES
"Arturo
Sandoval, arguably the best jazz player on the instrument in a
generation.."
MIAMI HERALD - William
Robertson
from www.arturosandoval.com
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