Arturo Sandoval blows audience away with eclectic Cabaret Jazz performance

It didn’t take long for Arturo Sandoval and his five colleagues to stake out their musical territory on Saturday at The Smith Center’s intimate Cabaret Jazz. By the time the extended introductory piece ended, the audience had been exposed to Latin jazz, lyrical ballad, Afro-Cuban, mainstream jazz, creative solos and astonishing technique — in other words, a complete preview of what the evening ahead had to offer.

The introductory fire soon gave way to a complete change of pace — a gentle romantic ballad offering plenty of opportunity for Sandoval to present a marked contrast with what had gone before. But those were just warmups leading to an exercise in classic be-bop. Sandoval was joined by hard-driving young California saxophonist Zane Musa who kept pace handily with the leader on Ray Noble’s classic “Cherokee” in a version it is doubtful the composer ever considered.

The program continued to alternate bop with Latin influence and, as the evening drew on, Afro-Cuban styles began to surface. The mixture is understandable since Sandoval is a native of Cuba. His close friend and mentor was the late trumpet artist Dizzy Gillespie, one of the earliest proponents of Afro-Cuban jazz and the man most responsible for importing both that style and Sandoval to the United States.

One of his favorite stories deals with his first concert in the United States. Gillespie had arranged for a performance in New York to introduce him to American audiences. When Sandoval walked onstage, he was stunned to see the front row occupied by some of the greatest names in jazz, their presence engineered by Gillespie. Among them were Dave Brubeck, Stan Getz, Bill Evans, Maynard Ferguson and Tito Puente, to name but a few. Sandoval’s American career was off to a spectacular start.

Saxophonist Getz was another strong influence. Although Getz’s style was sensual and elegant, quite the opposite of Gillespie’s, Sandoval showed his ability to assimilate both in his own playing.

Sandoval’s respect and affection for Gillespie is evident in his composition “Every Day I Think of You,” which he sang on Saturday, showing another facet of his talent. The song is featured on one of his recent albums, “Dear Diz.” His singing is adequate, but Michael Buble or Josh Groban don’t need to worry. What is unusual, however, is his piano playing. He demonstrated his skill at the keyboard, a skill so substantial that he has an album on the market on which he abandons the trumpet and focuses solely on piano.

Despite being recognized as one of the world’s leading instrumentalists, Sandoval’s skills are not limited to performance. He is a composer ,as well. Nearly 50 albums have been released, featuring more than 200 of his own compositions.

Not all of them are jazz. He has written a “Concerto for Trumpet” and has performed and recorded it, along with other classical works for trumpet and orchestra with American and European ensembles.

He is usually thought of as a high-note specialist and on Saturday gave a couple of examples why. We are accustomed to hearing extremely high-register trumpet playing from such showmen as, for example, Doc Severinsen. Sandoval exceeds the usual “high” range by an octave or greater. There’s more.

He takes the trumpet into a low register where it isn’t designed to go, a sound approximating a bass trombone. Both of these exercises are for show, of course, but they do demonstrate incredible command of the instrument.

Cabaret Jazz was full for the 7 p.m. show, as it was for a matinee at 3 p.m.

No one left disappointed.