Trumpet in the House, No Chucho

Regrettably, the appearance of the great Cuban pianist Chucho Valdés and trumpeter Arturo Sandoval at Campbell Hall on Saturday, March 7, part of the UCSB Arts & Lectures series, will not go as planned. Without explanation, the Cuban legend and Miami-based Valdés canceled his westward trip, which would have also included a stint at the central West Coast jazz haven of SFJAZZ, but Sandoval will appear, in a room he has played in years past.

The 76-year-old Sandoval, a fast- and high-note-favoring virtuoso, was part of Valdés’s innovative and historic band Irakere. The group was founded in 1973 and led first by Valdés, and then his son Chuchito, and the trumpeter has carved a formidable reputation as a leader and representative of the Cuban touch in jazz. Among his mantle hardware are 10 Grammy Awards, a Presidential Medal of Freedom granted by Barack Obama, and status as a 2024 Kennedy Center honoree (a saner, pre-Trumped period in the Center’s life).

In his career, including a discography of more than 30 titles, Sandoval has distinguished himself as a strong jazz musician who also excels in classical music directions. “You know,” he said, in an interview, “classical music is a different bag. It’s no more difficult or easier than jazz. It’s just different. You really have to command your instrument. You have to be together. You have to listen to that kind of music and be aware of the kind of approach, the articulation, the sound, and especially the style of the music you’re trying to play. That’s really important.

“It’s like you practice twice, pay attention twice, and care about two different worlds at the same time.”

As for his role models, along with other titans of jazz trumpet, he holds the bebop champion Dizzy Gillespie — whom he befriended while Gillespie was alive — in the highest regard. “Dizzy is still my hero and my biggest influence,” Sandoval asserts. “For me, he is the most masterful trumpet player who ever lived. No doubt about it. Harmonically, he was so profound, so deep. He knew so much about chords and changes in music. It’s unbelievable.”

More broadly, the special avenue of Afro-Cuban jazz is a world he has both been steeped in and has nurtured and expanded upon with his own musical input. “I believe in Afro-Cuban jazz,” Sandoval states, forthrightly. “Dizzy Gillespie, Mario Bauzá, and Chano Pozo put that together in 1946. I still believe it’s one of the fusions or combinations ever in jazz, one of the most beautiful combinations. It’s a powerful style of music. 

“I believe in that very much, which is the reason I keep playing in that style, and the reason I keep trying to put together tunes and compositions, thinking about that combination. For me, I believe in its worth.”

On Saturday, the Cubop musician believer makes his way back to Campbell Hall, minus a legendary partner, but fit to wail.

See Arturo Sandoval perform at UCSB’s Campbell Hall on Saturday, March 7, 7:30 p.m. For tickets and more information, see artsandlectures.ucsb.edu.