After the Noel Coward play Private Lives, and dinner at Bistecca Florentina on 46th Street (Restaurant Row) I walked over to Ellen's Stardust Diner (noted for their singing waitstaff http://www.ellensstardustdiner.com/) on Broadway and 51st for a hot tea.
On the lower level of Ellen's diner is the Iridium, a jazz institution and forever the home of Les Paul. The Iridium's Les Paul Monday nights grew out of the club's love for legendary guitarist Les Paul, who performed there every Monday from 1996 to 2009. Now Monday nights are reserved exclusively for the Les Paul Trio and special guest guitarists, like Jeff Beck, Steve Miller, Todd Rudgren and Ted Nugent, to honor Les.
But I was there to see the legendary Cuban trumpeter Arturo Sandoval. Sandoval's talent had led him to associate with many musicians, but the most important was Dizzy Gillespie, a long- time proponent of Afro-Cuban music. The two great trumpet players met in Cuba in 1977. Sandoval defected to the United States in 1990 while touring with Gillespie in Spain and became a naturalized citizen in 1999.
Sandoval's life was the subject of the 2000 film For Love Or Country: The Arturo Sandoval Story starring Andy Garcia.
Wednesday's show was pretty incredible. Not only does Mr. Sandoval have amazing trumpet chops, he sings, scats, and plays jazz piano better than many pianists I have seen.
