Arturo Sandoval

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 and US citizenship in 1999, Sandoval and his extended family now proudly call Miami, Florida their home. 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 flugal horn, as well as a renowned classical artist, pianist and composer.

Arturo Sandoval’s professional career began at the age of twelve when he became a member of a typical Cuban Orchestra in his hometown. He continued his career as a member of the Cuban Orchestra of Modern Music and later 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 through-out 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.

Arturo has been presented as a soloist with an innumerable amount of orchestras and symphonies which have included the BBC Symphony in London, National Symphony (D.C.), Boston Pops, Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Buffalo Philharmonic, Cincinnati Pops Symphony, and the LA Philharmonic as well as composer John Williams who invited Arturo to record his Trumpet Concerto with the London-Symphony.

Arturo Sandoval is a tenured professor at Florida International University (FIU). Arturo maintains one of the most extensive educational programs in the industry with approximately one hundred performances and lectures in universities and colleges worldwide and has rendered a considerable amount of time working with the NARA education programs Musicares and Grammy in the Schools for which he was awarded The NARAS Foundation Award for Excellence to Music Education. There are three scholarships associated with Sandoval: Arturo Sandoval’s Dizzy Gillespie Trumpet Scholarship at Central Oklahoma University and the Sandoval Trumpet Scholarship AT FIU. Furthermore, Editions Bim Publishing and Hal Leonard Publishing have released method books and recorded CD’s that include Arban as well as original exercises by Arturo. Hal Leonard Publishing has also released the charts to many of Arturo’s original compositions.

Sandoval was a feature artist in the acclaimed Dizzy Gillespie United Nations Orchestra, as well as in the orchestra’s 1992 Grammy Award-winning album, Live at Royal Festival Hall. He has performed with Celine Dione at the Oscars, John Williams at the Boston Pops, and in the Super bowl with Tony Bennet and Patti Labelle. He has also proudly performed at the White House as featured artist for every Presidential Administration since his arrival to the United States. His diverse style and versatility can be heard on albums by; the GRP All Star Big Band, Rod Stewart, Johnny Mathis, Paul Anka, Luis Miquel, Michel LeGrand, Gloria Estefan, and Frank Sinatra among many others.

As a composer, Arturo Sandoval was commissioned by the Kennedy Center to compose the music for the ballet, “Pepito”s Story” and the musical “Soul Possessed’ both choreographed by Debbie Allen. His playing and original compositions can be heard on the soundtracks and/or underscores of cinematic features such as “Havana,” “Mambo Kings,” “The Perez Family,” “Mr. Wrong,” “Eight Heads in a Duffle Bag,” “Random Hearts,” “ No Stranger,” and “Big Trouble” among others including HBO’s for Love or Country: The Arturo Sandocal Story for which Arturo’s work on the Underscore of the film earned his first Emmy Award for Outstanding Music Composition for a Movie. Since his arrival to the United States, Arturo Sandoval has recorded twelve albums as a soloist, eleven of which are Jazz albums and one Classical Album. His contribution to composing has been recognized with the prestigious ASCAP Founder’s Award. Arturo’s Albums have won Four Grammy Awards with Twelve Grammy Nominations as well as Three Billboard Awards.

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 improving 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.

In January 1995, the Kennedy Center for Performing Arts, as a part of their 25th anniversary celebration, gave Arturo Sandoval the responsibility of creating the ballet, “Pepito’s Story,” based on the novel by Eugene Fern. He did so, working with Debbie Allen, who choreographed this wonderful ballet.

“Pepito’s Story,” a novel written for children, gave Arturo the opportunity to tap into a creative force within him which he had done few times before. The tone fascinated the children, drawing them in with gentle melodies and capturing them with rhythms that undeniably moved them and raised their desires to maintain and be someone, and for some, to be part of the magnificent performance they were observing.

He comments, “Pepito’s Story” is a timeless coming of age story, with regards to family values, being nurtured and of self-esteem. I hope to convey this through the music I composed for this project. It is my desire that “Pepito’s Story” will help facilitate discussions about theses topics, among the parents and children who attend the performance. I also hope to expose both children and parents to a new kind of music, the sounds of the Caribbean.”

The premiere of “Pepito’s Story” was in April 1996 at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington D.C., where it was attended by thousands of children and Adolescents.

Up until now, the Ballet has proudly presented in Washington, Colorado, Florida and Texas as part of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts presentations.

Furthermore in 1999, Artier collaborated in yet another project with Debbie Allen, composing numerous songs. The ballet, called Souls Possessed had its premier at The Kennedy Center. Soul Possessed was the story of a beautiful young woman, Ysabel, who, on the eve of her wedding to her childhood sweetheart, falls passionately in love with a drifter. This betrayal, once discovered, results in a fight to the finish between her two lovers; Ysabel is condemned to live a wandering life, ever possessed by their angry and restless souls. Dance is the primary language of this fable. Dance, animated with song and sparse dialogue allows everything to take place as if in a dream. Soul Possessed examines the unity of life and death, love and hate, joy and sorrow, dance and music. Arturo Sandoval created melodies that touched and moved the audience and actors alike. His compositions ranged from haunting to soothing, suspenseful to delicate and romantic; all of which flawlessly narrated the ballet and came alive with the movements of the dancers. The production of Soul Possessed, toured extensively throughout the U.S. with rave reviews.

More recently, Arturo Sandoval has joined forces with Debbie Allen once again. This time, he is scoring the television series created by Mrs. Allen called “Cool Women” and it will air on AMC Romance Classics. “Cool Women” depicts culturally diverse, ordinary women, who do extraordinary things.