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Monday, June 24, 2002

By Nate Guidry, Post-Gazette Staff Writer

Arturo Sandoval is a brilliant and imaginative trumpeter with complete tonal command of the instrument. And when he wasn't mining the horn's highest register last night, he captivated the crowd on piano, flugelhorn, timbales and cowbells.

He even got to do a little scat singing, which had as much effect on the audience as his fiery fortissimo notes.

With Point State Park filled with hundreds of fans for the closing concert of the annual Three Rivers Arts Festival, Sandoval and his sextet dazzled the crowd with suave and expressive lyricism.

The group, which featured bassist Dennis Marks, percussionist Samuel Torres, pianist Robert Rodriquez, drummer Ernesto Simpson and saxophonist Felipe Lanoglia, has been with Sandoval for some time and that was apparent throughout.

They opened the concert with "Rhythm of Our World," a tightly orchestrated arrangement that mixed quick changing rumba and other Afro-Cuban rhythms.

"Cherokee," an old bebop staple, began soft, with only muted trumpet and piano accompaniment, but by the time it was over, there was a captivating two-ovation drum solo and a duel between trumpet and saxophone.

For years, Latin musicians have had significant impact on jazz. In 1940, it was trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie and Cuban born percussionist Chano Pozo who were the first to fuse elements of jazz and Latin rhythms. Tito Puente led a Latin jazz band for nearly 50 years. The work of Brazilian composer Luiz Bonfa and Antonio Jobim dates to the 1959 movie "Black Orpheus," which introduced American and European audiences to bossa nova.

In the 1970s, the Latin sound was embodied by Irakere, which featured pianist Chucho Valdes, saxophonist Paquito D'Rivera and Sandoval, who continues to take the music to new heights.

Sandoval demonstrated dazzling piano double-octave runs and arpeggios on songs like "Calypso."

He played "Blues for Dizzy," a tribute to his mentor, which began with a fiery muted trumpet solo and ended with Sandoval scat singing. But the group made its biggest impression on "San Bunga," a rhythmic churning, Salsa-inspired song with plenty of dance beats.

It was an evening of Afro-Cuban jazz -- that was as good as it gets.