What is it about los Cubanos? Artists like Los Carpinteros craft incredibly sculpted social critiques. Dancers such as Carlos Acosta, the Carreno clan and the Feijoo sisters have stormed the ballet world. And their musicians — their musicians always rock the house.
The audience in the Herbst Theater was primed from the outset when trumpet master Arturo Sandoval took the spotlight at the San Francisco Jazz Festival. And if there was any disappointment that evening, it was that the show had to end some time.
Backed by a tight-knit quintet that included Ed Calle on sax, Javier Concepcion on keyboards, Armando Gola on bass, Tomasito Cruz on congas and Alexis Arce on drums, Sandoval hit the stage at a blistering pace, dispatching double digit high notes on his trumpet solos with almost irritating ease.
Like many of the Cuban musicians, Sandoval — whose defection to the US 16 years ago was covered in Andy Garcia’s For Love or Country — is a real charmer. In the rare moments when he’s not playing, he does a little fidgety dance as if he can’t stand NOT to be making noise. He scats, he plays piano on “La Piquina,” and he disarms the crowd with his asides, even as the band and the crew discreetly struggle with the mikes and stage monitors. The fussing goes on intermittently throughout the show, but Sandoval says plainly to the audience, “You understand, we want to sound the best that we can.”
A guy in the balcony shouts, “Keep turning it up!” and without missing a beat, Sandoval continues, “And if you have suggestions, please … let us know.”