Friday night, June 12, 1998, I had the pleasure of seeing Cuban born American trumpeter Arturo Sandoval, at the Community Theater, in Morristown, NJ. What a loud band. Even the people in the farthest back row of the half-filled theater commented it was very loud. My Dad and I had front row center seats and could see every little fingering Arturo did. Fast fingering. He doesn't play very long because he alternates with snare drum, singing and an electronic keyboard. He does scream, "mosquito playing" as it is called by some, but only on runs up at the end of songs. A nice, full flowing sound with a lilting joy of music in it. Lots of ornamentations. I don't have any of his albums so the only piece I recognized was one I play myself, "Stella By Starlight". Arturo played this on a grand piano. Later he repeated it on his trumpet. The man next to me asked about the trumpet. One of the ushers went backstage and found out it was a "Bach. He uses some kind of classical mouthpiece that nobody else would use for this purpose." Arturo uses a straight mute. Also, what looked like a straight mute but there were holes in the neck. The third mute looked like a Harmon pull stem with the stem removed. Arturo also plays a flugelhorn. Lovely, liquid flowing ballads. Cha-cha-cha!! And everyone was up, dancing and clapping for the last piece. No encore but the entire band came out for a bow at the end. The band is: Arturo Sandoval - Trumpet Manuel Castrillo - Percussion Dennis Marks - Bass Charles McNeill - Saxophone Otmaro Ruiz - Piano Ernesto Simpson - Drums Bruce Galloway - Road Manager/Sound Engineer His newest CD, "Hot House" I believe, was for sale, and many purchased it, and got it personally autographed after the show. Yes, Arturo was signing, I got one! Last March I had a lesson with Uan Rasey, the retired MGM studio musician in Los Angeles, who is Arturo's instructor. I gave Arturo my write-up and photographs. Arturo personally asked to meet me after the show. I was the last in the autograph line, as I didn't want to hold anybody up while talking. My legs were shaking as I stood talking to Arturo. Arturo said there is no instructor as fine as Uan, a most unusual man. I agreed, and we talked more. Everytime he is in LA he tries to get together with Uan, at his house or somewhere. "Do you know why Uan is in a wheelchair?", asks Arturo of me. "He told me he has problems with his knees.", I replied. "Do you know what polio is?" "Yes" Arturo added, "He had that and has been in a wheelchair all his life. He went to all the studios in the 40's, 50's and 60's in a wheelchair. Fantastic player. Have you heard of Rafael Mendez?" I answered, "Yes, I have some of his sheet music." "Rafael Mendez played second trumpet to Uan in the studios.", said Arturo. "Wow.", was my reply. And Arturo signed my program, "To Karen, All the best, A Sandoval".

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Last Update: April 27, 2002