Birdland (New York, NY)
Jazz trumpeter Arturo Sandoval overcame his native Cuba's government restrictions to follow in the footsteps of his idol, Dizzy Gillespie. He's performed worldwide, won multiple Grammy awards, and released 28 albums. See him live in concert at Birdland.
Event summary prepared by the Goldstar Editorial Team.
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The last event was Thursday April 24, 2008 / 8:30pm. (view all dates)
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He was amazing and the venue was great!
Outstanding, a musical virtuoso.
Arturo put on a fantastic show and showed off his virtuosity on not just the trumpet but also impressively the piano and timbales. The band was great and they segued between several different styles of jazz including funk and as would be expected Afro-Cuban. After the first show, they invited us to stick around for the second set, which I gladly obliged to.
It was Charlie Parker, familiarly known to his fans and fellow musicians as "Bird," who served as the inspiration for Birdland. Opened in 1949, the club became a locus for the hot jazz scene in New York druing the 30's and 40's. In addition to Parker, many other jazz greats graced the Birdland stage over the years: Count Basie and his smokin' big band made Birdland their New York headquarters, Joh... More
Growing up on the outskirts of Havana in the 1950s, trumpeter Arturo Sandoval (also an accomplished pianist and percussionist) dreamed of someday performing around the world like his idol, Dizzy Gillespie. Along with saxophonist Paquito D'Rivera and pianist Chucho Valdes, Sandoval was a founding member of the legendary group "Irakere." From 1973 through the early 1980's their amalgam of Cuban music, jazz, and classical virtuosity, garnered international accolades including Grammy awards and concert tours. But the Cuban government's rigid control and oppression of musicians, artists, and athletes led Sandoval and others to defect to the United States. He was granted political asylum and eventually citizenship and freedom for his family in Miami. Sandoval's struggle was dramatized in the 2000 HBO feature film "For Love or Country: The Arturo Sandoval Story" starring Andy Garcia.
Sandoval has gone on to teach, record, win numerous awards, and perform around the world for audiences drawn to his unique music and inspirational charm. And although he has shared the stage with pop stars like Justin Timberlake, Alicia Keys, Celine Dion, and Rod Stewart, and fellow jazz artists like Tony Bennett and Stan Getz, his musical journey came full circle when he performed alongside his boyhood hero Dizzy Gillespie (see video below).
Sandoval's 28th and most recent album "Rumba Palace," on the Telarc label, earned the 2007 Latin Grammy Award.
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