Let’s just get this out of the way — Arturo Sandoval is obscenely talented. He certainly is the most mindblowing trumpet player in the world! Swinging along at mid-tempo, Sandoval slurs, trills and then comes up with a few solos, often at intense speeds that leave some in the crowd gasping — setting the tone that is carrying him and the crowd through the full range of what a trumpet can do. He can finesse bravura displays that range from dazzling cadenzas to impossibly low brays. He can make the trumpet laugh, he can make it cry, he can make it play Jascha Heifetz covers, and every whimsical, ridiculous inch of it is vastly entertaining. On stage alongside him at den Atelier: José Espinosa (perc), Manuel Valera (piano), Ed Calle (sax), Charles Flores (bass) and Alexis Arce (drums) — together, they’re the most outstanding Afro-Cuban live band around today.