Subtle Song From Dori Caymmi; Arturo Sandoval Trumpets His Skills

Could there be two musicians whose approaches are more different? Cuban trumpeter Arturo Sandoval is brash, loud and anxious to stick his formidable technique in your face. Brazilian composer-guitarist-singer Dori Caymmi’s sound is understated, dressed simply with subtle yet pervasive rhythms.

Performing on the same bill Saturday at the Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts, Sandoval and Caymmi were a study in contrasts: Caymmi was reserved and soft-spoken; Sandoval had the enthusiasm of an overactive 6-year-old and sang at the top of his lungs. Caymmi’s guitar was a shadow, suggesting rhythmic counterpoints and mood-inducing harmonics; Sandoval jumped between trumpet (and several mutes), electric keyboard and timbales, dominating the music on each.

Caymmi’s set, including a number of songs sung by Brazilian vocalist-composer Joyce, was far too short. Sandoval’s energetic set went on far too long.

The trumpeter began impressively with tunes from Dizzy Gillespie and Herbie Hancock, playing each with abandon and moments of grace. His long bebop runs and searing high notes recalled Gillespie’s late-’40s style, and he injected lyricism into even the most frantic lines.

Sandoval’s sextet rotated between stirring bebop and jazz funk before falling into Afro-Cuban dance music that included hand-clapping and call-and-response with the audience. The trumpeter delivered Al Jarreau-like vocal percussion in bubbly vowels and hard consonants during a bop arrangement based on “Cherokee.” At one point, he added the twangy buzz of mouth harp to his vocal high jinks.

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A little of this good-natured fun went a long way. Still, during the last part of his show, Sandoval seemed to neglect his trumpet, sticking to timbales (at which he is very good) or singing and pounding out clave rhythms on the keyboard.

The trumpeter did make a strong impression at the acoustic piano, performing his own moody “Street of Desire.” Sandoval’s sense of dynamics, technical skill and wily accompaniment were full of touch and sensitivity, something he rarely shows on the trumpet.

Sensitivity was at the center of Caymmi’s seductive opening set. His acoustic guitar and warm yet vulnerable voice created a hypnotic sense of melancholy on Ary Barroso’s familiar “Brasil (Aquarela Do Brasil)” as well as on his keyboardist Don Grusin’s “The Last Train.”

Single-name Brazilian vocalist-guitarist Joyce, who appeared with Caymmi’s quartet, sang in Portuguese with particular warmth and confidence in tones reminiscent of Flora Purim. She paid tribute to Caymmi’s songwriting with probably his best-known composition, “Like a Lover” (co-written with Nelson Motta and Marilyn and Alan Bergman), then showed her own composing talents on the upbeat “O Chines O Bicicleta” (“The Chinese and the Bicycle”).