Trumpet star will
open Pops season

It's been a long summer and we're all starving for exciting live music, and the Honolulu Symphony is ready to roll.

In what promises to be a lineup filled with stars and timeless wonders, Grammy winner Arturo Sandoval opens the Pops season, performing his inimitable hip-shaking, chop-daring tunes alongside maestro Matt Catingub and the full orchestra. Joining us in the first half will be singer Rocky Brown, bringing her voice back to the Pops in a medley of jazz favorites.

Arturo Sandoval and Rocky Brown Perform with the Honolulu Symphony Pops, with Matt Catingub conducting In concert: 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday Place: Blaisdell Concert Hall Tickets: $25, $35, $45, $55 and $70; available via Ticketmaster, 877-750-4400, or at www.HonoluluSymphony.com or www.ticketmaster.com Call: 792-2000

Sandoval is ranked among jazz's great trumpeters, from Louis Armstrong to Dizzy Gillespie, from Chet Baker to Miles Davis. Born and raised in Cuba, Sandoval became Gillespie's protˇgˇ, and under his guidance he quickly developed his distinctive sound: a blend of Latin influences and American jazz. Granted political asylum in 1990, Sandoval made Miami his home, though in his music he never fails to pay tribute to his heritage.

With 10 albums and counting, we'll get to hear Sandoval's most celebrated songs rearranged for the full symphony orchestra. He's an artist who appeals to everyone's musical tastes -- think traditional American jazz, pops, Latin music, Afro-Cuban jazz and even classical. In case you're wondering about Afro-Cuban jazz, it's a blend of Latin dances like the mambo and cha-cha, mixed in with bebop rhythms and percussion. If you're not familiar with bebop, it's a jazz form that flourished in the late 1940s, made famous by saxophonist Charlie Parker and trumpeter Gillespie. It's real fast, real high and real hard.

And that fits Sandoval's playing just fine. It's been described as spectacular, athletic or like Gillespie said: one of the best, with bull chops. But while Sandoval can burst and jam with jazz's finest, he's also got dramatic finesse in droves. In his Pops shows, he will reveal his sophistication and dexterity with a light classical tune written in the 1700s by the Austrian composer Haydn.

I'VE ALWAYS BEEN in awe of artists who could switch styles in the blink of an eye. Imagine juggling French and Korean cuisine. Likewise, it takes different skills to perform jazz and classical equally well. Where you've got to improvise and stay with the drummer in one, you've got to stay with the score and keep strong internal rhythm in the other. That's where I see the biggest difference. Classical musicians tend to think melody first, shaping their own concept of rhythm around it. Jazz players, on the other hand, sharpen their melodic creativity based on the drummer's steady beat.

What happens when you mix the two for a Pops show? Sometimes, Catingub tells us at rehearsal to stay on top of the beat, to go with the drummer. That's because we occasionally prefer to trust our own internal "softer" pulse instead of following his direction exactly. Just for fun, I once got back at Matt when I had to perform a classical showpiece he was conducting. There was no rhythm section to hold me down, so I took all the liberties, going fast, slowing down and speeding up again. The result? I haven't played it again!

Not to worry, by this weekend we'll all be jamming to the same beat. All the musicians are excited to get the season started, and on our menu is an enticing array of music. Later this year we'll host songwriter Burt Bacharach as well as singers Dianne Reeves and Keali'i Reichel, plus Kalapana, Yvonne Elliman and others.