Insight was offered to Lancaster Festival concertgoers Saturday night why Arturo Sandoval is known as a great jazz trumpet player rather than piano player. Only girls played the piano in his hometown.

Sandoval and his band teamed up with Maestro Gary Sheldon and the Festival Orchestra for a two-and-a-half hour concert ending in fireworks and recognition of festival codirectors Barbara Hunzicker and Eleanor Hood. Hunzicker and Hood have volunteered to direct the festival since it began 20 years ago and are retiring this year.

Sandoval displayed his trumpet, flugelhorn, piano, vocal and percussion skills throughout the concert. The Cuban-born musician has gained world-wide recognition as a trumpet player, but Sandoval showed he's equally skilled on the piano during a 10-minute song taken from his album "My Passion for the Piano."

Later on in the concert, Sandoval spoke to the crowd about the difference between playing the piano and trumpet. Piano players get to be cool while playing and look around for the pretty women, he told the crowd. "When you're playing this (the trumpet), there's no room for any of that. There's nothing but pain," he said to a round of laughs from the audience.

Sandoval went on to say that in the small town outside of Havana, Cuba, where he grew up, people looked at him oddly when he announced he would become a musician. No one in his family played, and he was told: "Go out and take care of the pigs and do something productive."

The young Sandoval, born in 1949, got even more odd looks when he picked the piano. In his town, only girls played the piano. "They looked at me and said, 'Uh, we don't know about this one,' " Sandoval said to another round of laughs.

One of the show's high-lights included the Athens High School jazz band performing with Sandoval and the Festival Orchestra on the song, "Funky Cha-Cha." The high-schoolers won a jazz festival performance contest at Lancaster High School earlier this year for the chance to play ith Sandoval.

A large crowd was on hand for the concert, and Mother Nature may have played a hand. Rain and other poor weather conditions have made the past couple of Lancaster Festival concerts at Ohio University-Lancaster's Wendel Concert Stage less than perfect.

Gratitude for the clear skies and gentle breeze was evident from the start when Sheldon opened the night by saying, "Well, this is a beautiful night — finally. It's just like we planned it in January."

Hunzicker was happy to see the nice weather. Ponchos had to be bought last year so Lee Greenwood's staff could unload his equipment for the 2002 Saturday concert finale. "Last year at this time it must have rained 3 inches. ... I thought that day, 'What does it take to get some nice Saturday morning weather,' " Hunzicker said. "If I knew it took me retiring I'd of done it sooner."

Organizers expected attendance to be up this year. The vast majority of tickets are presale, but when there's nice weather like Saturday, the attendance is almost always better, Hunzicker said. Official attendance numbers won't be in until later in the week.

The crowd cheered for several minutes after Sandoval played his final song, which was a tribute to his grandparents who immigrated from Spain to Cuba. He came back on stage, looked at his watch and said, "They gave me three more minutes. Will you take it?" oncertgoers cheered and Sandoval's band played for another five minutes. Sandoval asked everyone to dance and sing along on the final song, but he gave up after several attempts failed to get the audience out of their chairs and singing.

He didn't let the lack of participation show in his finale performance, drumming out the Latin jazz beat on his percussion instruments before leaving to a standing ovation.

Before the Festival Orchestra performed the final song for the fireworks display, Sheldon and Lancaster Mayor Art Wallace presented Hunzicker and Hood a plaque for their 20 years spent creating and helping the festival grow. Wallace declared July 17 through 26 Barbara Hunzicker and Eleanor Hood Days, and Sheldon announced that the concert master chair will be named after them. "All artists have been inspired to do our best because of what you've done," Sheldon said.

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