#CHStaff Picks | “We just passed the 20th anniversary of my personal favorite moment in #CarnegieHall history: The Buena Vista Social Club concert on July 1, 1998. As a high school trumpet player, jazz was my life (and Cuban trumpeter Arturo Sandoval was one of my heroes). When the movie “The Buena Vista Social Club” was released in June 1999, I loved every bit of it: from the memories of mid-century Havana dance halls to the footage of the Carnegie Hall concert with Ibrahim Ferrer and Omara Portuondo, to Rubén González playing solo on an upright piano in an empty hall in Cuba, while talking about how he came to learn the piano. The film so powerfully showcased how music can bring people together across even rigid political barriers like the embargo. About a decade later, in a job interview with Carnegie Hall’s Human Resources, I excitedly brought up the Buena Vista Social Club within the first few minutes, because the interview was at Carnegie Hall, where I’ve been proud to work ever ...