" data-original-title="" title="">Dizzy Gillespie, his tenure with the group Irakere, his stunning career trajectory with ten Grammy awards, films, TV appearances, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom award, and his well-known virtuosic trumpet playing combined with his spontaneous and sincere personal presence. There is no question that this concert delivered everything you would expect from an unstoppable larger-than-life musician who almost four decades ago thrust himself on Dizzy Gillespie when the latter arrived in Cuba, asked for a break, and has been going strong ever since as one of the great contributors to the jazz/Latin crossover which Gillespie largely initiated. Moreover, his backup group generates the same sort of musical energy that Sandoval does. The alleged quintet (with six musicians, it should be called a sextet, but what the heck) is a multi-engine Latin-powered rocket that took off and stayed in orbit for an almost two-hour performance—and the audience wanted more!

The one problem is that, with all this power and energy, it was hard to hear the nuances of the music itself. Like a rocket that has to reach breakneck speed to get into continuous orbit, the emphasis on velocity obscured some of the scenic musical views, and the emphasis on entertainment gave a circus-like ambience to the event that left the more reflective part of the music in the dust. Sandoval's personality and humor conveyed sincere friendliness, but his extended periods of scatting, while brilliant and clever, wore thin after a while. His super-rapid runs and above-the-staff high notes on trumpet were more show-offish than they were pertinent musically. And his attempts at drumming, keyboards, and piano playing created a feeling of being in a music school during a practice session. Shoemaker, stick to thy last.

When this reviewer could step back and get free of the distractions, he heard some really exquisite music sandwiched in. Sandoval's vocal and trumpet rendition of his tribute song, "Dear Diz, (Everyday I Think of You)," was a beautiful, well-performed ballad reminiscent of