August 25, 2011 – It was a packed house last night for the Cuban themed night at the Hollywood Bowl that included the performances of Ninety Miles, Arturo Sandoval and the LA All Star Big Band, and the Buena Vista Social Club featuring Omara Portuondo.
It began with the jazzy sounds of the group led by Stefon Harris, David Sanchez, and Christian Scott, performing music from their latest collaboration, “Ninety Miles.” Then the stage spun around to reveal a big band of musicians that Arturo Sandoval called “his dream band.”
Inconspicuous as part of the group, but mostly on account of the distance, sat actor turned musician Andy Garcia. That was, anyway, until the cameras fell on him and the crowd recognized him on the television screens. As we are forever lovers of Hollywood stars, the noise of some made the rest of us look and soon enough everybody clapped for Andy.
Of course the clapping continued when Natalie Cole stepped on stage to perform the songs that once upon a time her father, Nat King Cole, had performed. With an obvious English accent and shinny legs almost as golden as her dress, Natalie performed “Besame Mucho” and “Quizas” to an audience that loved every minute of it. But Sandoval was not done bringing stars out until Manolo King of the Gypsy Kings joined the band for a song.
After the intermission an elegant Buena Vista Social Club walked on stage. Led by trombonist Aguaje Ramos, the group performed the songs we all love them for, with Barbarito Torres and his laud as an important highlight. Later on, the fabulous 81-year-old Omara Portuondo joined them, singing as clearly as anyone half her age, requesting from the audience that they clap or stand, and eventually switching over to English for a song. The program was as perfect as the weather that accompanied the evening.
Following are links to videos of bits and pieces of the concert. They were taken with a small, low quality camera (no photo pass for yours truly), but the music is still worth listening to. The video attached to this article features the percussionists in Arturo Sandoval’s big band, in order of appearance: Andy Garcia on bongos, Angel Rodriguez on congas, Johnny Friday on drums, and Joey De Leon Jr. on timbal. After that one you may want to check out the following:
Natalie Cole singing "Besame mucho" with Arturo Sandoval and the LA All Star Band
Natalie Cole singing “Quizas” with Arturo Sandoval and the LA All Star Band
Barbarito Torres and the Buena Vista Social Club - and a nice dance!
The grand, the fabulous! Omara Portuondo and the Buena Vista Social Club
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