Arturo Sandoval

This CD is a complete dud. Arturo Sandoval is one of the world's great trumpeters and has mostly recorded very rewarding music, but he must have been talked into making this complete misfire. Sandoval had recently become an American citizen so the idea was to pay tribute to some recent American songwriters. The problem is that the material and especially the arrangements (by Richard Eddy Martinez, Doug Bickel, Ed Calle, Charles McNeil) are quite weak, unimaginative, and schlocky (including "Just the Way You Are," Janet Jackson's "Come Back to Me," "She's Out of My Life," and "We've Only Just Begun"). Sandoval sounds like he is just going through the motions during this insipid commercial set, and fortunately he had the wisdom not to add these songs to his repertoire. Pass!