Four Grammy Awards, six Billboard Awards, an Emmy Award, and in Radford on Oct. 8, 2007. Internationally acclaimed jazz trumpet legend Arturo Sandoval will make his way to Radford University’s Bondurant Auditorium/Preston Hall as part of the University Performance Series in one of the biggest acts this season.

The 57-year-old musician boasts a thriving and versatile career that grows with each note. He boasts performances with many of “the greats” including Johnny Mathis, Frank Sinatra, Rod Stewart, Céline Dion, Dizzy Gillespie, Woody Herman, Woody Shaw, Michel Legrand, Bill Conti, Stan Getz, Paul Anka, John Williams, Alicia Keys, even in the Super Bowl with Tony Bennett and Patti LaBelle. One could assume he essentially is one of “the greats.” The leading Latin legend’s life story was even portrayed in the HBO movie For Love or Country—for which he composed the entire score.

The Cuban-born trumpeter feels equally at home as a composer and musician in general (as he would like to be remembered). Sandoval is a protégé of the jazz master Dizzy Gillespie, viewing the bent trumpet bearer as a spiritual father figure. It is his work with icons such as Gillespie, as well as his history from Cuba to eventual U.S. citizenship in 1999 that provide a strong, energetic drive that Sandoval presents in each performance. While not on tour around the world, he resides in Miami as a tenured faculty member of Florida International University.

Admission is $16 for the general public, $8 for children, and free with an RU I.D. Tickets are available at Radford’s Hurlburt Student Center and can be purchased by calling (540) 831-5420.

-C.R. Kasprzyk