An audience thirsty for the full blown sound of Cuban jazz trumpeter Arturo Sandoval packed out and danced at the Ruth Seaton James Auditorium on Friday night in the first of his Bermuda Festival 2003 performances.

And thirsts were more than quenched as the Grammy award-winning artist served up a musical feast showcasing his versatility not only in jazz styles, but also on instruments.

The evening began with a percussive piece called McCoy - a tribute to McCoy Tyner. Backed by his five member band (saxophonist Felipe Lamoglia,bassist Dennis Marks, pianist Robert Rordiguez, drummer Ernesto Simpson and percussionist Samuel Torres) Mr. Sandoval took the stage playing drumsticks and drums for quite a while before blowing his trumpet. But when he did, an anticipatory audience lapped it up, clapping their approval, you could see them settle better into their seats. And when percussionist Samuel Torres from Colombia beat out his bongos and tumbadoras in a solo section of the piece I knew that not only Mr. Sandoval, but also his band, would have the audience eating out of their hands.

And Mr. Torres was clearly a favourite, shaking the maracas in Mr. Sandoval's original composition, Soureonoa, he was as mesmerising to watch as to hear. The seamless flow movement of his upper body as muscles of his shoulders, back, arms and neck glided up and down to beat out the seductive rhythm of the maracas. In Sourena, Mr. Sandoval took to the piano after telling us: "I like playing around with the piano. I hope you like me playing it."

And it was beautiful. Starting out softer than the previous two pieces, it had a seductive romantic feel.

The mood moved to pure fun in the fourth piece, Island Mood, where Mr. Sandoval remained at the piano in a lively performance bouncing on his stool to the infectious Latin rhythms he and the band were pelting out. If not already impressed with the percussive and piano talents of the virtuoso trumpeter, Mr. Sandoval certainly dazzled me with Cherokee, a long piece melding the sound of those people with the blues. From a trumpet performance so engaging you could see musicians in the audience making mental notes, (a man behind me actually said to his partner "That is very difficult!") he broke into scat.

And just when I was thinking 'wow what fun', he elevated it, scatting Cherokee calls. Mr. Sandoval seemed to run the gamut of jazz sound and volume in this piece.

Next he sang My Funny Valentine and played the trumpet in a performance that could be used as an anti-smoking promotion as he demonstrated the strength, control and power of his lungs.

The audience were brought to their feet and instructed to sing out the Spanish word 'sandunga' (sex appeal, sexy) in the energising full Latin rhythm finale which had most people in the auditorium warmed up, dancing and ready to rumba.

Cathy Stovell