Christian Sands is currently one of the most in-demand pianists working in jazz.

In the last few years, he has toured around the world as a bandleader and recently appeared as a sideman on records by Christian McBride and Gregory Porter.

After the one-two punch of Reach and Reach Further, Sands’s dynamic 2017 Mack Avenue debut, and his live/unreleased studio tracks EP follow-up released earlier this year, Facing Dragons is Sands’s return to the recording studio with an indestructible band and an unwavering allegiance to the groove.

“I like the freedom of the trio format,” says Sands. “It’s more dramatic to me. It’s a smaller entity but with a big personality. I can fit it into different situations dynamically, compositionally.”

Sands has that same affable understanding of the audience as he recognizes their innate desire to be entertained as well as enlightened. He tackles the Beatles’ “Yesterday” with a soulful saunter.

The trio consists of Christian Sands (bandleader/piano), Yasushi Nakamura (bass), and John Davis (drums).

“Pop music is essential in jazz. It’s new melodies, new stories, or the same stories told in different ways. Jazz is about storytelling, and pop music has a unique story to tell.”

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