Artist: Arturo Sandoval

Arturo Sandoval is a Cuban-American jazz  trumpeter, pianist, timbalero, and composer.

Sandoval has won 4 Grammy Awards, Billboard  Awards and one Emmy Award. He performed at the White House and at the Super Bowl (1995). 

In 1982, he toured with Dizzy Gillespie, who became his friend and mentor. From 1982 to 1984, he was voted Cuba's Best Instrumentalist and was a guest artist at the BBC  and Leningrad Symphony Orchestras. 

In 1989, Gillespie invited Sandoval to be part of the United Nations Orchestra. During a tour with this group, Sandoval visited the American Embassy in Athens, Greece, accompanied by Gillespie who helped him with his plan to defect from Cuba. He became an American citizen on December 7, 1998. 

Sandoval has performed Latin jazz with Paquito D'Rivera, Tito Puente, and Chico O'Farrill, Cuban music in Miami, and classical music in England and Germany. In the 1990s, he was a member of the GRP All-Star Big Band. 

In 2014, Sandoval performed at Eastman Theatre with Zane Musa, Dave Siegel, , Johnny Friday, and Armando Arce.

He has taught at Florida International University and Whitworth University, where he is in charge of its jazz ensemble. He has performed with Los Angeles Philharmonic, Pittsburgh Symphony and National Symphony Orchestras. In 1996, Sandoval was commissioned by the Kennedy Center Ballet to score Pepito's Story, a ballet based on the book by Eugene Fern and choreographed by Debbie Allen. Sandoval also composed a classical trumpet concerto that he performed and recorded with the London Symphony Orchestra. 

Sandoval's score for a film about his life won an Emmy Award. His compositions and performances can be heard on The Mambo Kings, which was nominated for a Grammy Award in 1992 for Best Instrumental Composition Written for a Motion Picture or for Television. 

His song "A Mis Abuelos" (To My Grandparents) received Grammy Award nominations for Best Instrumental Composition and Best Arrangement. This composition appeared on his Grammy-winning album Danzon. 

On November 20, 2013, President Barack Obama  presented Sandoval with the  Presidential Medal of Freedom.