If you’re a fan of the trumpet, you got an ear full of some of the brassiest sounds this side of the angel Gabriel this Friday night at Catalina’s. 9 time Grammy winner Arturo Sandoval fronted his sizzling Big Band in a tribute to his idol Dizzy Gillespie as well as inspiration Ray Anthony (who was in the audience, looking a healthy 92) with a selection of material that celebrated musical machismo.
His golden and fat sounding horn filled the room with a lovely and gentle opening serenade to “The Man I Love” that quickly turned into a NASCAR event. The four stallions in the trumpet section careened around a wild take of “Things To Come” before Andy Martin used his trombone to grace a snapping “Woody ‘N You.” A tribute to Harry James came in the form of “You Made Me Love You” that had the leader’s voluminous horn milk every wonderfully schmaltzy note for every ounce of emotion, and the bel canto brass never sounded better. On the ballad “Sleepy Lagoon” Sandoval’s horn cried and swooned, just before he brought up trumpeter Wayne Bergeron for a battle royale on the snappily swinging “Maynard and Waynard” that had the pair delivering audible “can you top that’s” with each bewildering facial response upping the ante.
Switching to piano, Sandoval delivered a lovely traditional Cuban original with percussion and rhythm section before Zane Musa jumped up from the audience with soprano in tow and delivered an otherworldly solo to take the tune into orbit. But the festivities were just starting, as trumpeters Jon Barnes and Skip Martin (of Kool and the Gang-who knew?!?) hopped up next to Sandoval and did a three way freeway jam on horns before going scat crazy on “Anthropology.” If that weren’t enough, Martin closed down the house with a pair of KATG hits that had the whole room boogying to “Get Down on It” and “Ladies Night” turning a Dizzy Atmosphere into Soul Train at the snap of a timbale! If you weren’t there, pray someone recorded it!
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