Jazz trumpet virtuoso Arturo Sandoval has done just about everything in a career that goes back more than 50 years.
“I have never won the lottery,” he notes with a chuckle.
Musically, he has never recorded a duets album, at least not with vocalists.
He’s checking that box this year with the release of his first-ever duets project featuring some of the biggest names in pop music.
He describes the guest artists as a “big bunch of big, big names.” Among them: Classical crossover superstar Josh Groban, R&B/pop icon Stevie Wonder, opera superstar Placido Domingo, R&B darling Pharrell, singer-songwriter Prince Royce, Latin Grammy winner Alejandro Sanz and the late Al Jarreau; it was the R&B singer’s final recording before he died last February.
There’s one other big pop artist on the album whose name he dropped then quickly retracted; he wasn’t sure if all the t’s were crossed on the contract.
Don’t expect Sandoval to preview any of the album when he joins the Tucson Symphony Orchestra for two performances this weekend as part of the HSL Properties fourth annual Tucson Jazz Festival. But he and the orchestra will perform the U.S. premiere of his new Concerto No. 2 for Trumpet and Orchestra, Sandoval said. He’s played the piece twice in Europe a few months ago.
“It is the first time I’m going to play it in the U.S.,” he said, then gushed at the thrill of playing with an orchestra.
“I love it. It is the best sound in the music world. The full orchestra, you can not replace that with anything,” the 68-year-old Cuban-American said in a rich, thick accent. “It’s a full sound, every instrument is represented. You have all variety of colors and timbres. You can not replace that with any other formation. Another group of musicians to play with is a concert band, which is a parallel of a symphony orchestra with no strings. Or a big band or chamber orchestra. But a full orchestra, that’s No. 1 in the priority of sounds.”
In the weeks before his Tucson performance Sandoval was busy in his home studio mixing the multigenre duets album. He expected to hand it off to the studio to master the project before releasing it as early as this spring.
“It’s mainly songs that (the artists) are famous for,” he said of the project.
One of the guest artists is ABBA’s Anni-Fria Lyngstad, who came out of retirement to record a cover of her band’s hit “Andante, Andante.”
“It is one of the things I never did before and I am really excited about. It is a great opportunity for me to get another chance for people who have never heard me playing or have no idea what I do or who I am are going to have a chance to know a little bit of what I’ve been doing for the last 57 years.”
And that would be priceless for a man who says he has flown below the radar for much of his career.
“I am a jazz musician. I play jazz and I play a little bit of classical music once in awhile,” said the 10-time Grammy winner. “If you are a rock artist, or you are a pop artist or rap or hip-hop or movie star, that is a completely different (larger audience). This is a lot smaller.”
“I’m always open for collaboration, for new things, new ideas,” he added. “You never know when the opportunity is going to come and you have to be ready. But I shouldn’t complain. Because out of many things someone could do, I did a few. I’m grateful to God for all the opportunities and all the things that have happened in my life.”
