Kennedy Center honoree and ten-time Grammy award winner Arturo Sandoval returns to Tilles Center as headliner for the second annual Tilles Jazz Fest on July 19.  Sandoval will be co-headliner alongside the John Pizzarelli big band, led by NY-based guitarist and vocalist John Pizzarelli. In addition to Sandoval, Pizzarelli has worked with artists including James Taylor (playing on and producing Taylor’s latest album, American Standards) Paul McCartney, Ray Brown, Monty Alexander, Jeff Hamilton, and John Clayton.

Sandoval hails from Artemisia, Cuba, where he developed a passion for music at a young age. Inspired by legendary trumpeter and Jazz Master Dizzy Gillespie, who pioneered Bebop and its fusion with latin music, Sandoval’s music effortlessly bridges bebop and latin styles. Like Gillespie, Sandoval, who is also a trumpeter, has his own impressive list of accolades including 10 Grammys, 19 nominations, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom. 

Although inspired by Gillespie from a young age, Sandoval’s early study and career focused also on classical music and trumpet repertoire–with Sandoval later composing his own “Concerto for Trumpet and Orchestra.”

Sandoval, who was only ten when Fidel Castro captured Havana in 1959, found himself and his music caught in the Cold War. While serving in the Cuban military, Sandoval was arrested and imprisoned for three months after a senior officer caught him listening to jazz on Voice of America (VOA). Sandoval, however, was undeterred, later forming Cuban jazz fusion group Irakere with Chucho Valdes and Paquito D’Rivera. Facing resistance from the Cuban government, Sandoval and his bandmates had to get creative:

“We wanted to play bebop, but we were told that our drummer couldn’t even use cymbals, because they sounded ‘too jazzy.’” remarked Sandoval in a 2007 interview with Jazz Times, “We eventually used congas and cowbells instead, and in the end, it helped us to come up with something new and creative.” 

But Sandoval’s global career and later defection to the United States hinged on a chance encounter with Gillespie in 1977, one which he would not have been prepared for had it not been for his dedication and devotion to his craft. 

“It’s a very, very interesting story,” remarked Sandoval. Gillespie, who was touring the Caribbean on a jazz cruise, decided to disembark in Havana. Sandoval detailed the experience in a 2012 interview with NPR:

“I went to the harbor, and finally I saw my man coming downstairs…At that time, I couldn’t speak any English. But I was lucky because the guy behind him started to talk to me in Spanish. It was a percussionist by the name of Ray Mantilla, and he was playing Los Tangas(ph). He asked me [if I had a] car. At that time, I had a 1951 Primus…And that car was horrible. The passenger door didn’t open and he [Dizzy] had to go through the driver door. He [asked if it was a] Russian car? I said: ‘No, It’s a Primus.’ And then he said ‘Ok, show me Havana. I have never been here before.’ That was his very first visit to Cuba.”

Later, Sandoval managed to play for Gillespie, who was equally impressed with Sandoval’s ability and surprised that his driver was not only playing trumpet but his music and lines. 

And so began a friendship that would take Sandoval around the world and eventually to the United States.

After their encounter in Havana, Gillespie invited Sandoval to tour with the United Nations Orchestra. In 1988, Cuba’s government granted special permission for Sandoval’s wife and son to join the band in London. Aware that there was limited time to act, and with his wife and son hiding from authorities in London, Sandoval awoke Gillepsie at 1 am and the pair hatched a plan for Sandoval’s defection to the United States.

Gillespie handed Sandoval the business card of then vice president Dan Qualye. With help from the White House and American embassies across Europe, Sandoval made it to New York with his family.

“I was 40 years old when I got [to the U.S.], and I feel most of the time that I was born when I was 40,” Sandoval remarked to NPR. “That makes me only 24 years old. That’s the way I think about my life.”

Sandoval’s story is a testament to the importance of music in bridging cultural divides–and a reminder of the value and privilege of free, artistic expression. For Sandoval, Jazz was more than an escape from the day-to-day but rather a vehicle through which he found true freedom from the Castro regime.

When Gillespie hired Sandoval in 1977, the trumpeter could barely speak English. For Gillespie and Sandoval, it was always about the music.

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Tilles Jazz Fest will take place on Saturday, July 19. Produced by Tilles Center for the Performing Arts in collaboration with Jazz at Lincoln Center. The one-day event will take place on four indoor and outdoor stages across the beautiful Long Island University Post campus, including Tilles Center’s Concert Hall, with performances starting at 1pm and swinging into the night! Get tickets on our website, over-the-phone, or in-person through our box office.