This "Album of the day" today is dressed in luxury with the vinyl that I bring.
The album "To A Finland Station" by Dizzy Gillespie and Arturo Sandoval.
"To A Finland Station" by Dizzy Gillespie and Arturo Sandoval Front Cover
Dizzy Gillespie is well known throughout the world. Considered one of the creators of Bebop and Modern Jazz alongside Charlie Parker, Dizzy is one of the greatest trumpeters of all time. A virtuoso on his instrument, he used a trumpet bent 45 degrees to play. That was his trademark.
Arturo Sandoval is still alive and, is currently quite active on social media. A great musician, a great teacher and an excellent human being. He is considered the best trumpeter that Cuba has given and outside Cuba he is considered at the same level as Miles Davis, Jon Faddis, Fats Navarro, Clifford Brown, Lee Morgan and Chuck Mangione to name a few.
He helped found Irakere, one of the most famous Jazz orchestras in Cuba. Outside of Cuba he played in the United Nations Orchestra that Dizzy created, in the GRP All-Star Big Band, he has won ten Grammy Awards and has been nominated nineteen times. He also received six Billboard Awards and an Emmy Award. He is a professor at Florida International University and a visiting professor at Whitworth University, where he is in charge of his jazz ensemble.
"To A Finland Station" by Dizzy Gillespie and Arturo Sandoval Back Cover
The story of how Dizzy Gillespie and Arturo Sandoval met is very picturesque. Dizzy was on a tour of the Caribbean islands in 1977 and at some point passes through Cuba. Arturo Sandoval, who, despite being the best trumpeter in Cuba of those years, had to work as a private taxi driver in order to earn more money, somehow manages to make himself the driver for Dizzy. Arturo spends the day teaching Dizzy Havana and its culture and they say goodbye in the afternoon. At night, Dizzy is invited to listen to the "best jazz band" in Cuba and when he arrives he realizes that whoever is playing the trumpet in the band is his "driver."
That day a friendship was born that lasted until the death of Dizzy Gillespie in 1993. Even, Dizzy was the one who managed, using his influences, to give political asylum to Arturo, in the United States, in the early 90s when Arturo escaped from the cuban Communism, together with his family, while giving a musical tour of Europe.
"To A Finland Station" by Dizzy Gillespie and Arturo Sandoval Vinyl
The album "To a Finland station" (Pablo - Pablo Today label, 1983) is the first fruit born from the friendship between these two geniuses of the trumpet. Dizzy visited Finland in 1982 to give a concert with the Finnish Studio Orchestra. Coincidentally, a Cuban group, led by Arturo Sandoval, also appeared in Helsinki. Dizzy met with Arturo and in an all-night session that lasted until the next morning, they recorded this album.
"To A Finland Station" by Dizzy Gillespie and Arturo Sandoval Label 1
"To A Finland Station" by Dizzy Gillespie and Arturo Sandoval Lavel 2
On the album you can see the excellent interaction between the two trumpeters. In fact, with this album Dizzy was looking for the world to know Arturo's talent or, at least, that's what is said in the music yellow press. And if it was really like that, he really did it because Arturo Sandoval arrived to stay.
Versions of this album can be purchased on Amazon and Discogs
This and other vinyl albums can be found in our affiliate store. The list in this store is a personal and varied selection that can be purchased on Amazon. For now we only have the listing for the Amazon website in the USA and the Amazon website in Germany.
And as usual, I left some Youtube videos with the music of this album for you to enjoy.
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Posted from my blog with Exxp : https://juanmiguelsalas.com/2021/02/05/album-of-the-day-to-a-finland-station-by-dizzy-gillespie-and-arturo-sandoval-high-karat-jazz-music/