My Passion for the Piano
Several non-keyboard jazz icons, including drummerJack DeJohnetteand bassistCharles Mingus, have released recordings as pianists. On this release, the Cuban-born, Grammy Award-winning trumpeter Arturo Sandoval joins that elite list. Backed by drums, percussion, bass, and tenor saxophonistEd Calle, Sandoval unveils his suave and swinging pianisms, which spring from several influences. The rhapsodic romanticism of Keith Jarrett and Bill Evans is evident on Sandoval's "Marianela Says Goodbye," from his soundtrack to the HBO movieFor Love or Country, and on Armando Manzanero'sbolero, "Esta Tarde Villover." On the finger-busting "All the Things You Are," Sandoval sounds like his formerIrakerebandmate,Chucho Valdes. Another standard, "Stella by Starlight," swings in a Cuban clave groove, while "D.A.S.S." moves with a bossa nova lilt. Sandoval's sensitive reading of Michel Legrand's "Windmills of Your Mind" is the most evocative track on this recording, which reveals another side of Arturo Sandoval's genius.--Eugene Holley Jr.