Arturo Sandoval's style has been called smooth jazz and Latin jazz, but the trumpeter doesn't like labels. He sees himself simply as a musician.

        “There are a lot of people who just don't know and have to label you,” he said. “It's not fair. I play all types of music. Classical, jazz, even Frank Sinatra.”

Jazz musician Arturo Sandoval plays the piano in Miami Beach, Fla. (Associated Press photo) | ZOOM |

        Music Hall will swing with Mr. Sandoval's eclectic rhythms when he joins conductor Erich Kunzel and the Cincinnati Pops this weekend for Hot Latin Nights. The three concerts are the final installments in the orchestra's 2001-02 Open Door Series to spread multicultural awareness. On the program: “The Girl from Ipanema,” “Gimme Love” and a rendition of Emmanuel Chabrier's “Espana” by Louisville's Ballet Espanol.
       

Escape through music

        Born and raised in Cuba, the 52-year-old Mr. Sandoval decided to take up music for a living early on.

        “I owe it all to the music,” he said. “I grew up in a poor rural family, with no hope.

        “I joined a small band in my home village and they gave me several things, like percussion and trombone,” he said. “I looked at the trumpet and said "That's the one I want.' ”

        Though the band didn't have any extra trumpets handy, his aunt bought him one when he was 12. His playing eventually brought him to Havana, where he established himself as a founding member of the Grammy-award winning Latin group Irakere.

        Mr. Sandoval broke away from Irakere and formed his own band in 1981. For the next decade he toured the world and was voted Cuba's best instrumentalist nine years in a row.

IF YOU GO

What: Cincinnati Pops' Hot Latin Nights    When: 8 p.m. Friday-Saturday, 7 p.m. Sunday    Where: Music Hall    Tickets: $16.50-$46; $10 for students 45 minutes before the concert. 381-3300. Online at www.cincinnatipops.org.    There's more: Party featuring salsa band Latin X-posure and dance lessons in the Music Hall Ballroom will follow Saturday's performance. $10 with the purchase of a concert ticket.

        Traveling gave him a different perspective of life in Cuba andincreased his disenchantment with the communist regime.

        “It opens your vision to many things,” he said. “Especially when you travel from Paris to Bulgaria or Czechoslovakia to West Berlin, you see the difference. You cannot even think about comparing them.”

        In 1990 the Cuban government made a rare concession by allowing Mr. Sandoval's family to accompany him on a European tour. He took the opportunity to defect at the U.S. Embassy in Rome. Last year's HBO film For Love or Country, starring Andy Garcia, chronicled his struggle with the system.
       

Island roots

        Since his arrival in the United States, Mr. Sandoval has recorded 10 albums and performed the scores for the films Havana, Mambo Kings and The Perez Family. On his latest album, My Passion for the Piano, the musician demonstrates his mastery of another instrument.

        “I've always had a desire for the piano,” he said. “But in Cuba, it was nearly impossible to have a piano. I started to practice and finally put this together.”

        Mr. Sandoval lives in Miami where he teaches at Florida International University. Though he has no regrets about leaving Cuba, he said that he would like to return one day.

        “I still have 32 cousins and eight uncles and aunts there,” he said. “I would love to go back, but under the current government I wouldn't even think about it.”

        What does he have in store for Cincinnati audiences? Mr. Sandoval said he wants to share his passion for the sound.

        “I want to communicate with them and let them know how much I love the music.”
       

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