2023 has not yet begun and the agenda of the famous trumpeter Arturo Sandoval already looks almost full, especially July, a month that he will spend in Europe between concerts and jazz festivals.
The rest of the year does not look bad at all. That is why the almost two years that the pandemic lasted —if it can be said that it is over—, the musician did not have a good time. It was perhaps the most frustrating stage of his long and fruitful career.
“It wasn’t easy at all,” he acknowledged in a telephone interview from his home in Tarzana, a suburb of Los Angeles’ San Fernando Valley. “Especially for being so long without being able to play for the public.”
However, although the Cuban musician finds it difficult to recognize that the pandemic had positive aspects — “many people died,” he said — the truth is that in all those months of confinement he wasted no time. In that period he wrote hundreds of songs and recorded more than 700 videos with his melodies. And best of all, these jobs are accessible and free of charge on social networks.
God has given me a lot […] I have never put anything so that people have to pay to listen,” he said. “I don’t feel right asking people to pay for something I did here; I do it because music is a balm for the soul”.
This “gift” is for people who want to enjoy it, he said.
And since the musician does not stop even during the New Year’s Eve parties, this Friday he will offer a concert at the Walt Disney Concert Hall. At Arturo Sandoval Swinging Holiday, the artist will perform classic Christmas songs with his particular style of Latin jazz.
“Every time there is a concert it is a reason for joy,” he said. “It means that people want to see you, and you have to enjoy that.”
Sandoval, 73, released “Rhythm & Soul” in the summer of this year, an album that was nominated for a Grammy, an award that has already been won on ten other occasions and for which it has been considered a total of 19 times.
In addition to his world tours, the musician also pursues another of his passions: writing music for movies, the reason he settled in Los Angeles 14 years ago. And as if that were not enough, he has also led a prolific career as a composer of classic works for trumpet. The day before this interview he had arrived from Chicago, where the Chicago Symphony Orchestra had performed some of his pieces.
So when asked if one day he plans to retire, the musician replies that it is not in his plans, and repeats one of his favorite phrases with a laugh.
“There is a very nice saying that I really like that says, ‘If you want to see God laugh out loud, tell him about your plans’”.
In detail
Than: Arturo Sandoval Swinging Holiday
When: friday 8pm
Where: Walt Disney Concert Hall, 111 S. Grand Ave., Los Angeles
How: tickets from $52; laphil.com reports