Trumpet legend Arturo Sandoval performing live in the KPLU Seattle studios on January 13. Taken by Justin Steyer / KPLU
“If you’ve got music in your heart, you’re gonna be a happy person, no matter what.”
That’s what trumpeter Arturo Sandoval told KPLU’s Jazz on the Grooveyard host Kevin Kniestedt, as he recalls growing up in rural Cuba and having a trumpet teacher tell him (at age 10) that he had no talent and should not pursue music.
Obviously, Sandoval, who is now known as one of the world’s foremost jazz trumpeters, didn’t listen to the teacher and it’s a pure delight to hear him tell the story in this latest installment of KPLU’s Studio Sessions.
Along with his band (pianist, Mahesh Balasooyria, saxophonist, Zane Musa, bassist, John Belzaguy and drummer, Johnny Friday), Sandoval blew us away by performing two solo-heavy musical selections: There Will Never Be Another You and Clifford Brown’s Joy Spring.