When pianist Christian Sands came to the KNKX studios in 2018, he reflected on his years watching bassist and bandleader Christian McBride put on a show.
"Watching him play every night and watching the audience's jaws be on the floor is really amazing to see," he said. "But also, just how does he do that?"
Sands had already played KNKX twice with McBride's trio, with whom he also earned a Grammy nomination. But in 2018, Sands brought his own band, including bassist Yasushi Nakamura and drummer Jonathan Barber.
Sands joined McBride's band right after graduation from the Manhattan School of Music, but his start in music came much earlier. He was learning the piano as soon as he was learning to talk.
"Oh man, I was listening to everything I could. I was a student of the music," he said. "I was trying to study it. I was trying to figure out who was playing on the records."
Sands' first album, Footprints, was recorded when he was 11. It was intended to be a simple document of his playing at the time, but the word spread quickly.
"So we made maybe six [CDs] in the beginning, pass it out to the family members and things like that. And I think after a month, we started getting phone calls: 'Where can we find this this Footprints album?' So, we just started making more and making more and making more," he said.
Along recording and performing, Sands is the creative ambassador for the Erroll Garner Project, which helps to preserve and celebrate the legendary pianist's legacy.
As part of the role, Sands received access to Garner's archives and discovered a recording of The Beatles' "Yesterday," which he used to inspire his own music.
"It's so cool, and it swings really hard," Sands said. "So, listening to that, I was [like] maybe I can play that in my band and see what I can do with his arrangement? So really, this is my arrangement based off of his arrangement."
"Yesterday" is the only cover song on Sands' 2018 album, Facing Dragons. He's composed as long as he's played. He said there's no routine; it comes naturally. Sands uses whatever the muse delivers.
"I might be in the car, and then I'll just hear something, and then it'll just take off from there, or I'll actually sit down and try to come up with something with some kind of concept in mind. But usually, it's just on a random basis," he said.
These days, in his late 30s, Sands is promoting his fifth album, Embracing Dawn, and touring internationally with his quintet and trio.
Songs heard in this episode:
- "Rebel Music"
- "Yesterday"
- "Reaching for the Sun"
