Arturo Sandoval program

Arturo Sandoval April 29, 2023

Photo credit: Lonnie Timmons

Meridian Arts Centre

George Weston Recital Hall

TO Live would like to acknowledge Tkaronto, which is a Mohawk word meaning the place in the water where the trees are standing.

We live and work on the traditional territory of Haudenosaunee-speaking nations, including the Huron-Wendat, Seneca, and Mohawk. Haudenosauneespeaking nations have been here since time immemorial, and were more recently joined by the Mississaugas of the Credit.

This place has many Indigenous ports, including where the Humber and Rouge rivers meet other waterways such as Lake Ontario. Ancient longhouses— typical Haudenosaunee housing structures—have been found along both these rivers and in the north of Toronto near modern-day York University. This territory is covered by the Dish with One Spoon Wampum Belt Covenant, an agreement between the Haudenosaunee (Six Nations) Confederacy and the Anishnaabe (Ojibwe) and allied nations to peaceably share and care for the lands and the relationships around the Great Lakes.

What this means is that by living and working here, we all have a responsibility to the environment and to each other, to treat each other and the environment with peace and respect. This means we have responsibilities to honour, renew, and consistently uphold the values and relationships outlined in the ancient agreements.

Today, Toronto is home to Indigenous peoples and settlers from around the world. Let us all come together in an atmosphere of respect and peace to do good work together with good minds. Let’s start building stronger and healthier relationships with each other and the spaces we inhabit in Tkaronto, Ontari:io, Kanata.

Let’s hold our minds together in kindness. Nia:wen. Thank you.

© Dawn Maracle

Welcome letter from TO Live

Welcome to the George Weston Recital Hall in Meridian Arts Centre—thank you for choosing to spend your time with us. This evening we are thrilled to present the great Arturo Sandoval, an artist whose illustrious career as a trumpeter, composer, pianist, timbalero, and band leader has spanned over six decades. Tonight, you will hear material from Mr. Sandoval’s latest record Rhythm & Soul alongside other fabulous songs and improvisations. Buckle up!

The George Weston Recital Hall features world-class design and acoustics. Audiences and artists alike rave about its warm tone and intimate atmosphere, putting it on par with the top concert halls in Europe and North America.

Over the past 30 years, this recital hall has showcased some of the world's finest classical musicians, including Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, Italian mezzo-soprano Cecilia Bartoli, cellist Yo-Yo Ma, violinist Isaac Stern, and soprano Kathleen Battle. A wide variety of Canadian music legends—Jim Cuddy, Ian Tyson, Gord Downie, and Gordon Lightfoot—have appeared on this stage, in addition to major artists from around the world including The Kingdom Choir, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Quiana Lynell, Etienne Charles, and many others.

Over the course of the coming months and years, TO Live will be programming more incredible concerts, like the one you will see tonight, in this hall. Stay tuned for announcements of appearances by internationally renowned artists and local favourites in a variety of genres—an eclectic mix of classical, jazz, pop, and music from around the world that reflects our great city and community.

Of course, this expanding music series at the George Weston Recital Hall will complement and augment the many great partner organizations already presenting in this space. This includes the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra Toronto, Sinfonia Toronto, Mandle Philharmonic, Tirgan, The Nathaniel Dett Choral, and Soundstreams, plus many more over the course of the season.

We welcome you to Meridian Arts Centre, the doors are open! Thank you for joining us to celebrate and enjoy the experience of live music and art in North York.

Clyde Wagner President & CEO

Rubino Director of Programming TO Live

Max

In 2022 Arturo releases his new album Rhythm & Soul to rave reviews!

What the pandemic of 2020 revealed to those who follow Arturo on social media was just how much this man, who at age 72 has seen and done it all, continues to love music and court it with all the eagerness of a lovestruck teenager. During the imposed quarantine, when the music business all but stopped, Arturo would share one to three new compositions or improvisations to his Facebook and Instagram pages almost daily, revealing an insatiable need to keep creating and communicating. This album is but a mere sampling of his creative output from that time, a collection of new songs written during the shutdown and interpreted by his incredible band once they were able to get back in the studio together.

Why Rhythm&Soul?

The “Rhythm” is represented by a collection of new originals that draw on Arturo’s wealth of experience and encyclopedic knowledge in all forms of Latin music, from traditional Cuban son to Brazilian bossa nova and samba to Caribbean soca. There are few, if any, musicians more qualified to represent such a vast diversity of Latin rhythms.

The “Soul” is what comes from his horn. This album showcases Arturo as a player in many forms—from fiery to sensitive. Musicians and fans alike rightly marvel at his technical ability on the horn—the effortless high notes and the dizzying speed and execution of his improvised runs. He truly is one of the most beautiful ballad players around, and both sides of his soul are well represented here.

Photo credit: Anthony Pidgeon/Redferns

Arturo Sandoval

Trumpet and artist: Arturo Sandoval

Piano: Maxwell Haymer

Guitar: William Brahm

Percussion: Daniel Feldman

Bass: Maximilian Gerl

Sax: Michael Tucker

Drums: Mark Walker

Photo credit: Jeremy Lock

Arturo Sandoval

A protégé of the legendary jazz master Dizzy Gillespie, Sandoval was born in Artemisa, a small town in the outskirts of Havana, Cuba, on November 6, 1949, just two years after Gillespie became the first musician to bring Latin influences into American jazz. Sandoval began studying classical trumpet at the age of 12, but it didn’t take him long to catch the excitement of the jazz world. He has since evolved into one of the world’s most acknowledged guardians of jazz trumpet and flugelhorn, as well as a renowned classical artist, pianist, and composer.

He is one of the most dynamic and vivacious live performers of our time, and has been seen by millions at the Oscars, Grammy Awards, and Billboard Awards. Sandoval has been awarded 10 Grammy Awards and nominated 19 times; he has also received six Billboard Awards and an Emmy Award, the latter for his composing work on the entire underscore of the HBO movie based on his life, For Love or Country, which starred Andy Garcia as Arturo.

Arturo Sandoval reaches beyond the scope of mere effort. His struggles while in Cuba and since his defection have given him more energy and strength, urging him to accomplish and surpass his childhood dreams. Filled with a virtuoso capability, he desires nothing more than to share his gift with others who feel the same intense adoration for music as he does. One frequently speaks of Arturo Sandoval’s virtuoso technical ability or his specialty in high notes, but anyone who has seen him on the piano, lyrically improvising a ballad, or has had the opportunity to enjoy the diversity of his music, knows that Arturo Sandoval is a prominent musician, and one recognizes that Arturo is one of the most brilliant, multifaceted, and renowned musicians of our time.

Backstage with...Arturo Sandoval

Arturo Sandoval played his first gig when he was 11 years old and hasn’t looked back since. The Cuban-born trumpeter and composer has been making music for over 60 years and credits it with helping him escape the Castro regime.

Sandoval has led a life so fascinating HBO made a movie of it. A protégé of the great bebop trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie, Sandoval is now a legend in his own right with 10 Grammys, six Billboard Awards, a Presidential Medal of Freedom, and honorary doctorate under his belt.

Ahead of his Toronto performance, TO Live sat down with the celebrated artist to talk about his love for music, his relationship with Dizzy, and making magic with the audience.

What led you to become an artist?

I’ve asked myself this many times, but I have no answer, because in my family, no one went into music before or after me. I was born and raised in a small village in Cuba. I came from the countryside, from a very poor family. Nobody was really into music, or even art. I was kind of the black sheep of the family. My father was a car mechanic. When I said I wanted to be a musician, my family, the neighbours, everybody said, “What? Musician? What are you talking about? Are you crazy?”

I never figured out how or why, but music is my passion. I decided to be a musician no matter what. I’ve always said that music saved my life, and I’m never going to get tired of repeating it. I was a hopeless kid in Cuba. But music opened my horizons and opened so many opportunities for me and my family, and I am so grateful. That’s why I’ve got such big passion, dedication, and discipline for music.

What was your relationship with Dizzy like?

I was playing for many years when he came to Cuba to visit for a couple of days in 1977. We met, and that was a key point of transformation in my life, because a year later I started playing with him until he passed away. That opened a lot more opportunities for me, because playing with him, that always was a privilege. We played in a lot of places all over the world. For me, that was a gift from God, to have the opportunity to become a close friend of my hero, who became my mentor afterward. But he was my hero for so many years before we met. Later, he helped me obtain political asylum. He was instrumental to my defection, because his name carries a lot of weight in the U.S.

I miss him a lot. He died on January 6, 1993. And I miss him every day, especially when I’m playing, because his ideas and his influence always come out in my playing.

How do you stay connected with your Cuban culture?

I left Cuba in 1989 and never went back. I’m not allowed, because they cancelled my passport as soon as I left. I have an American passport, but you cannot travel to Cuba with an American passport. But I’m not interested. I’m never going back if the regime is still there. There’s such oppression…it’s something beyond imagination that a dictatorship could last more than 64 years.

But I believe you don’t have to make any effort to stay connected because it’s in your blood. Wherever I live, I’m going to stay Cuban. Cuban music is part of my mentality; it’s the first thing I played until I went to school for classical training. Then I discovered jazz music. But my whole beginning was strictly Cuban music.

You play many genres, but you don’t like categories, right? Duke Ellington used to say “Music’s only one, a good one. The rest is something else.” For me, whatever sounds good, I don’t care who wrote it, when, where, or what category it is, I want to learn. As much as I like Cuban music and jazz, my favourite composer is Sergei Rachmaninoff. When you have a minute, listen to his “Piano Concerto No. 2” and you will remember this conversation.

What can’t you live without?

My first priority is my family, of course. Then, the music. And then, the people who follow my career and my music. I am very grateful to them, because they make me happy and feel it’s all worth it somehow.

I’ve got three dogs, too. Those three Pomeranians...we call them the children. We don’t call them animals or dogs—they are our three little children. They sleep in my lap. When I’m on tour, when I’m out, I miss them so much. I have no words to express how much I miss them. They are a big inspiration for me, too.

What’s your favourite thing to do in Toronto?

For me, the big difference in any city is the audience. When the people really respect and enjoy the music and respond in a positive way, I love that place. The rest is all relative. It’s not important to me. When people are really appreciative, oh my goodness, I remember that with a lot of affection and appreciation.

How can you tell when the audience is really into your music?

You know this right away. When you’ve been on stage for so long, you notice in people’s faces how much they’re enjoying the show, how much they’re following every detail. When that connection gets established, it’s magical. It’s something that fills my heart completely. How do you keep your enthusiasm for music alive?

Because the music is my life. It’s my passion. It’s also my way of living and how I provide food on the table for my family. I am so grateful to the music. If I lose the passion for music, I think I’m going to be done. If I’m still breathing, I’m going to be loving music.

Photo credit: Geffen playhouse

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Love what you heard?

Listen at home.

Tonight, Arturo Sandoval and his band are playing with an unbeatable mix of fire, finesse, and feeling to create an unforgettable evening of jazz and Latin music. Listen to some of the jazz legend’s top hits and greatest collabs anytime you want by adding the TO Live show playlist to your Spotify account.

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Donor recognition list as of April 11, 2023.

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