Arturo Sandoval is a Cuban jazz trumpeter, pianist and composer. He was born in Artemisa, Cuba on November 6, 1949.
2013 Presidential Medal of Freedom Recipient
2016 Honorary Doctorate recipient in Fine Arts from The University of Notre Dame
10 Time Grammy Award Winner
Emmy Award Recipient
6 Time Billboard Award Winner
2015 Hispanic Heritage Award Recipient
A protégé of the legendary jazz master Dizzy Gillespie, Sandoval was born in Artemisa, a small town outside of Havana just two years after Gillespie became the first musician to bring Latin influences into American Jazz.
Sandoval began studying classical trumpet at the age of twelve, but it didn’t take him long to catch the excitement of the jazz world. He has since evolved into one of the world’s most acknowledged guardians of jazz trumpet and flugelhorn, as well as a renowned classical artist, pianist and composer.
In 1977, Sandoval met Dizzy Gillespie, who promptly became a mentor and colleague, playing with Arturo in concerts in Europe and Cuba and later featuring him in The United Nations Orchestra. Sandoval defected to the U.S. in Spain, while touring with Gillespie in 1990, and became a naturalized citizen in 1999.
Sandoval’s life was the subject of the 2000 TV film For Love or Country: The Arturo Sandoval Story, starring Andy García as Arturo Sandoval. He currently resides in Tarzana, California.
Sandoval has been awarded 10 Grammy Awards, and nominated 17 times; he has also received 6 Billboard Awards and one Emmy Award.
On August 8, 2013, President Barack Obama announced that Arturo Sandoval would be a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
His compositions can also be heard in movies including “1001 to 1” starring Beau Bridges, “At Middleton” starring Andy Garcia and Vera Farmiga, Dave Grusin’s soundtrack for “Havana” and “Random Heart”, in the “Mambo Kings” soundtrack with his Grammy nominated composition “Mambo Caliente”, in the soundtrack of “The Perez Family”, “61”, “Mr. Wrong”, the documentary “Oscar”, and “The Family Fuentes” among of others. He also was commissioned by the Kennedy Center to compose the music for the ballet “Pepito’s Story”, “Soul Possessed”, as well as “Oman O Men”, and “The Chocolate Hot Nutcracker, choreographed by Debbie Allen.
Sandoval was awarded an Emmy for his composing work on the entire underscore of the HBO movie based on his life, “For Love or Country” starring Andy Garcia.
