Sandoval, Arturo

Sandoval, Arturo , Latin-jazz trumpeter, pianist, composer; b. Artemisa, Cuba, Nov. 6, 1949. He was a member of the Cuban pop-jazz group Irakere, which performed in 1977 during a State Department-sponsored jazz concert in Cuba; it was here that he caught the eye of Dizzy Gillespie. Sandoval later traveled internationally with Irakere, and recorded overseas with Gillespie by special arrangement with the Cuban government. He eventually came to the U.S. in July 1990, after he defected while on tour with Gillespie, who called the State Department on his behalf. During the 1990s, he performed at inaugural balls and Super Bowls, toured in 50 countries, won three Grammy Awards, soloed at the Academy Awards, and performed for President Clinton five times. However, he was denied U.S. citizenship in April 1997 due to his previous membership in the Cuban Communist party. He said that he joined Cuba’s Communist Party three months before he defected specifically so that he could take his wife and 20-year-old son with him on tour; then the whole family could escape. The rejection of Sandoval’s citizenship application caused an uproar from his colleagues in the arts and from the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. Individuals and arts organization sent a flurry of faxes and letters to the White House vouching for Sandoval’s anti-Castro credentials and his moral character. Finally, he was granted citizenship in 1999. Since 1992, he has taught music at Fla. International Univ.

Discography

To a Finland Station (1982); Breaking the Sound Barrier (1983); Tumbaito (1986); No Problem (1986); Flight to Freedom (1991); I Remember Clifford (1992); Arturo Sandoval & the Latin Tradition (1995).

—Lewis Porter