You get the dynamic range of the trumpet on these two releases.
Multi-Grammy winner Arturo Sandoval is in funky and boisterous form here with his band of Dave Siegel/key, Kemuel Roig/p, Rene Toledo/g, John Belzaguy/b and Johnny Friday/dr. They strolled into Yoshi’s in July of ’15 and get things rolling with a rapid fire bop medley that has Toledo firing away while Siegels keyboards get soulful on “Second Line.” The percussion gets festive on “El Manisero” and the piano is gracious on “Surena” while Sandoval shows his romantic side on his tribute “ Dear Diz (Every Day I Think of You)”. The sparks flew this night!
On the mellower side of the street, Richard Harris uses his warm and glowing tone on trumpet and flugelhorn in a variety of relaxed settings. He’s gracious and gentle with an acoustic guitar on “O Mio Babbino Caro” as well as during a Harmon muted solo after Lori FeFevere Johnson’s vibrato as she sings “Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most.” With synth strings and Jake Reichbart’s guitar, he takes it easy on “A Thousand Kisses Deep” and does some CTI-inspired funk with Mark Kiesweltter’s keyboards on “Dr Funkenstein’s Rx.” His most jazzy piece is a cozy duet with Johnson along with an intimate piano and bass on “Blame It On My Youth” while he delivers an aria on “Concierto de Aranjuez” with exotic guitar accompaniment. Lots of bel canto romance flying around here.