Artist Arturo Sandoval

Cuban jazz great Arturo Sandoval is most famous as a trumpeter with an incredibly fluid sensibility, but his polymathic ability goes much further. Equally comfortable in classical and jazz traditions, he can play enough instruments to fill a small orchestra, and he’s an especially accomplished pianist and percussionist. Though he was a star in Cuba from a young age, his career was really launched in his mid-20s after he met his idol, Dizzy Gillespie, who took Sandoval under his wing. Though he’s been dogged by complaints that his albums—the latest of which, Rumba Palace, was released in 2007—have never realized his true potential, Sandoval is known for vigorous live shows that leave audiences spellbound.

Updated 08/05/2009