March 26, 2002
Contact: Susan Gwynne
(805) 893-2098
e-mail: gwynne-s@sa.ucsb.edu

The fiery Latin-based jazz of trumpeter Arturo Sandoval and his band comes to UCSB Campbell Hall

Summary Facts:

• Arturo Sandoval and Band
• Brilliant Cuban-born jazz trumpeter
• Sandoval has won four Grammy Awards and has been nominated 12 times
• His life story was dramatized in the Emmy Award-winning HBO film For Love or Country: the Arturo Sandoval Story
• Saturday, May 4 / 8 pm
• UCSB Campbell Hall
• General: $35/$30, UCSB students: $19/$16
• Tickets/information: UCSB Arts & Lectures at 893-3535

Trumpeter and bandleader Arturo Sandoval will bring his joyous Latin-based jazz to UCSB Campbell Hall on Saturday, May 4 at 8 pm. Returning to Santa Barbara after a recent performance as a soloist with the Santa Barbara Symphony, Sandoval will exhibit his spirited jazz skills that led trumpet-legend Dizzy Gillespie to declare, “He’s one of the best. He has a very athletic style, but can play softly too. He’s got bull chops!” Sandoval’s virtuoso capabilities run from piercing high notes amidst stunningly fast runs to lush middle-register balladry. His jazz concerts are legendarily lively affairs, featuring not only his fiery trumpet playing but also his turns at the piano and timbales. The London Standard insists, “Catch him now, at the glorious stage of his career when, for physical ‘chops’ and quick-thinking invention, he can blow any other trumpeter in the world off the bandstand.”

A Cuban native who was granted political asylum in the U.S. in 1990, Sandoval had been a renowned trumpeter in his homeland. He started to play the instrument when he was nine, was performing classical trumpet by the time he was 12, and later co-founded the Grammy-winning jazz supergroup Irakere. Irakere, fronted by famed pianist Chucho Valdés and featuring saxophonist Paquito D’Rivera, extended the notion of Latin jazz beyond its Afro-Cuban base to include classical music and rock. The group is so influential that the CD The Best of Irakere is one of a handful of discs listed in NPR’s “Basic Jazz Record Library.”

Sandoval has enjoyed a successful recording career as a leader, beginning with such excellent early 1990s CDs as Flight to Freedom and I Remember Clifford and leading up to his most recent release My Passion for the Piano. That disc is a recorded testament to the piano prowess his live audiences have long had the chance to enjoy. Over the years he has also kept good company as a sideman on recordings by Johnny Mathis, Frank Sinatra and Dave Grusin and in concert with Woody Herman, Herbie Hancock, Woody Shaw and Stan Getz. His collaborations have often put him in the televised spotlight, as he performed with Gloria Estefan at the 1994 Grammy Awards and with Tony Bennett and Patti LaBelle at the 1995 Super Bowl halftime show.

Since being granted political asylum in the U.S. in 1990, Sandoval has garnered 12 Grammy nominations and four Grammy Awards. He also won an Emmy for Outstanding Musical Composition for the score to For Love or Country: The Arturo Sandoval Story. While the made-for-television film has afforded Sandoval a higher profile, in jazz circles he’s been acknowledged for many years as one of music’s foremost trumpeters. In 2001, he was awarded the ASCAP Founder’s Award for his musical accomplishments as a trumpeter, composer and arranger, an award previously given to Stevie Wonder, Bob Dylan, Paul McCartney and Tito Puente.

Currently, Sandoval holds a full tenured 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 colleges across the United States. He has lectured internationally and has performed at the Conservatoire de Paris and the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in the Soviet Union.

As part of his Santa Barbara residency, Sandoval will conduct a Master Class with UCSB Jazz Ensemble students on Saturday, May 4 at 3 pm in the Santa Barbara Junior High School Auditorium, 721 E. Cota Street. This workshop is free and open to public observation. It is co-presented with the Santa Barbara Bowl Foundation’s SAGE (School Arts Gifts in Education) Program.

Further information about Arturo Sandoval can be found at his website: www.arturosandoval.com.

On the evening of the performance concertgoers may enhance their experience by attending a tasty Cuban buffet served by the UCSB Faculty Club at 6 p.m. Cost is $18 per person; reservations must be made by April 29 by calling 893-3096.

This performance by Arturo Sandoval is presented by UCSB Arts & Lectures and sponsored by KCSB 91.9 FM. It is funded in part by the California Arts Council, a state agency, and the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency. Tickets are $35 and $30 for the general public and $19 and $16 for UCSB students.

For tickets or more information,
call UCSB Arts & Lectures at (805) 893-3535.

Editor: For photos, please call
Susan Gwynne at (805) 893-2098.