Arturo Sandoval: Sensational at Yoshi’s
Arturo Sandoval wins you over with those first few notes on his golden trumpet. The sold-out Saturday night crowd at Yoshi’s cheered and clapped as the Grammy-winning musician gracefully moved from trumpet to timbales, piano, electric keyboards, and vocals. His 75-minute set was too short to spend with a jazz legend like Sandoval.
While touring with B-Bop legend Dizzy Gillespie in 1990, Sandoval defected from Cuba. Five years later, he was performing at the Super Bowl halftime show. His life story inspired the HBO film, For Love or Country, and President Barack Obama recently awarded him the nation’s highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
“I’m happy you like what I do,” said Sandoval at Yoshi’s. “Because, to be honest, the relationship with this piece of… metal… is hate-love.” Staring down at his trumpet, comfortably resting on its stand, the musician admitted that it’s more often been a hate situation with his instrument, due to its unpredictability and uncomfortable mouthpiece. “I’d rather kiss my wife than put that hard thing in my mouth,” Sandoval joked with the crowd. Sandoval then took the opportunity to announce his 40th wedding anniversary with his wife Mariana.
Sandoval traded solos throughout the evening with the talented saxophonist Zane Musa, and later paid tribute to his mentor and hero, Dizzy Gillespie, with the tender ballad “Dear Diz (Every Day I Think of You).” Gillespie died in 1993.
One of the evening’s highlights was Sandoval’s wild solo scat singing, as he pretended to play an upright bass with his hands, combining sounds that resembled a mix of Tuvan throat singing and deep register notes that only humpback whales can hit. He signaled the sound mixer to increase the bottom end, which seemed to rattle a few drinks at the front row tables.
Sandoval’s current tour takes him on the road through mid-September, culminating in a two-night performance in Las Vegas. For more information about Arturo Sandoval, visit http://www.arturosandoval.com.
Band: Zane Musa (sax), Johnny Friday (drums), Armando Arce “Pututi” (percussion), Mahesh Balasooriya (piano), and John Belzaguy (bass).
Arturo Sandoval
Yoshi’s, Oakland
7:30 pm show
May 31, 2014
Photo: Steve Roby
