Arturo Sandoval - Mambo Nights (2009)

With "Mambo Nights" Señor Sandoval has delivered an eloquent example of his qualities as a performer. In the opening piece, "Sofrito" by Mongo Santamaria, Sandoval and the WDR Big Band, in cheerful mood, set the scene of their plan to revive the great era of Afro-Cuban jazz on this album. In this timeless classic, Sandoval at first keeps a low profile, almost as if he were just warming up; then the following track, "Come Candela", also written by Mongo Santamaria, sets off a magnificent firework display of spectacular trumpet sounds. In particular his high-register solo notes leave the listener gasping and gaping in amazement. As a reporter from the Washington Star once wrote after a concert: "Sandoval reaches notes most trumpeters barely even know." "Asi Asi" by Pérez Prado follows, just as exciting. Originally composed by the "King of the Mambo", it is further enriched by the skilled instrumentalists of the WDR Big Band with crazily cascading sequences. Arturo Sandoval turns one musical somersault after another.

In "Manteca", written by Dizzy Gillespie in 1947 as one of the first ever jazz pieces with a Latin American touch, the trumpeter manages to break all speed records, playing his horn so fast that the listener's ears can barely follow him. In the following track, "A Mayra", Sandoval the showman proves once again convincingly that he not only possesses top skills and breakneck speed and technique, but he also cuts a good figure as a sleek performer of gentle ballads. He enhances this declaration of love from Bebo Valdés to his daughter Mayra with a charming, silky-soft tone. Then "Autumn Leaves" (original: "Les feuilles mortes") has a much livelier tempo. This song was first heard in 1946 in Yves Montand's movie "Les Portes de la Nuit"; here Sandoval and the WDR Big Band surprise us with a stormy Latin jazz tour de force.

Especially noteworthy is the evergreen "Oye Como Va", which Tito Puente first made a hit of in 1963 and Carlos Santana immortalized in 1970 with his rock version. In this interpretation, "Oye Como Va" is taken back to it's original cha-cha-cha rhythm. On the final track, "Mambo Inn" by Mario Bauzá, the artists have come full circle and take one more bow to one of the greatest Latin jazz epochs in the middle of the last century. This track, first recorded in 1952, stands for the Cubop genre as no other piece does, in other words for the blend of bebop and Afro-Cuban rhythms.