Over the course of an extraordinary career that spans more than half a century, Arturo Sandoval has earned ten GRAMMY Awards, six Billboard Awards, an Emmy Award, the GRAMMY Lifetime Achievement Award, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and the Kennedy Center Honors. These distinctions reflect not only his technical brilliance but also his profound cultural impact as one of the most influential ambassadors of jazz and Afro Cuban music in the world.

SANGÚ, the new album out May 1, captures the 76-year-old Sandoval in a moment of undeniable creative vitality. Throughout the album’s 12-tracks, SANGÚ delivers a gloriously unbound vision of Afro-Cuban funk, one that’s both ancestral and strikingly modern. It’s a swirl of bebop, fiery jazz fusion, and batá-inspired rhythms, punctuated by left-field flashes throughout: you can hear hints of Fela Kuti’s expansive Afrobeat, Chet Baker’s dusky ambience, organ-powered Memphis soul, and even slick French house. This is Sandoval at his most rooted, most expressive, and most fearless.