Christian Sands Trio

The stupendous pianistic technique alone, which is presented with tremendous force, throws you back in your chair. This is Christian Sands' own, one of the young shining lights of contemporary jazz history, and proclaims an almost unique highest standard. Where is Sands hanging out? In the former territories of jazz development, which also characterized new territory, the traditional theory of harmony was decidedly the basis. But Sands doesn't make things easy for himself or even sit in a well-prepared nest. He purposefully and with highly developed individuality sets up his own creative space, where he re-locates enlightened jazz classicism with fresh ambition and thirst for action. Sand's musical cultural attitude is deeply rooted in the Afro-American jazz heritage. Echoes of two of the absolute exceptional virtuosos Art Tatum and Oscar Peterson waft across, marking the pianist's most formative influences, and as far as the inspiration of post-Bill Evans pianists is concerned, Chick Corea. He gave the latter a reference in a simmering Latin piece. What connects him with the first two is this seemingly limitless technical brilliance, both in terms of the rapid melodic lines and the harmonic constructions of an extremely strong left hand and, most obviously, the swinging at crazy speeds. He wisely does not indulge in a star soloist production with accompanying equipment. Sands constantly challenged his fellow musicians, who were both musically and technically great. No matter whether in a heated neo-bebop context, an earthy blues/soul mixture that Horace Silver and Ramsey Lewis were thinking of, compiling a bravura piece of seamlessly interlinked Monk quotes or post-hard bop up-tempo finesses based on reharmonized, further driven standard Changes conjured up, the urgent interplay pulled everything together into an essence. What's more, it was launched with an unbelievable lightness and within this formal framework, pouring out the cornucopia and flying from one end to the other. Sands takes up a line of piano stylistic development that was never decisive in terms of direction, but which set standards in terms of technical quality and enriches it with selected conceptual and sound aesthetic qualities from today's perspective. Emotional weight throbs incessantly. For the pianist, virtuosity is not just pure arrogance. It is the carrier material for his urge to sound. There is a lot of promise for the future. (Hannes Schweiger, about the concert on July 17, 2018)

Be Water captures Christian Sands in an expansive compositional mode. Since the release of his debut, he has toured within and particularly outside the United States as musical director of the Monterey Jazz Festival and as creative ambassador for the Erroll Garner Jazz Project. His immersion in music with musicians in these and other ensembles with which he works, and constant engagement with the cultures and traditions he encountered on his travels, have broadened his creative horizons.

Program and cast

Christian Sands: piano
Yasushi Nakamura: bass
Clarence Penn: drums