Arturo Sandoval

The Bösendorfer grand piano In his studio once had belonged to Oscar Peterson, Jordan Levin reports about the trumpeter Arturo Sandoval ( The Malaysia Star ). He had defected Cuba in 1990 and since has become a very successful musician in the USA with 15 recordings under his own name, four Grammies and a busy touring schedule. He also teaches at the music department of Florida International University and in his many educational activities tries to give back what he had learned himself. Sandoval, the son of a car mechanic, had studied classical trumpet at the Cuban National School of the Arts, and became fascinated in jazz when he heard recordings by Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker. In 1973 he belonged to the founding members of the fusion band Irakere. In 1978 he met Dizzy Gillespie who performed in Havana and who later helped him with his career start in the USA. If God would play the trumpet, he would have to practice,. Sandoval explains to his students, but otherwise encourages them to see jazz not so much as a business than as a chance to give satisfaction to their listeners as well as to themselves.