CHRISTIAN SANDS
The Steinway Artist and Grammy Nominee is an emerging jazz force. His abundant piano technique perfectly matches his conception, accomplishing a much deeper musical goal: a fresh look at the entire language of jazz. Christian says, “My music is about teaching the way of jazz and keeping it alive.” Whether it’s stride, swing, bebop, progressive, fusion, Brazilian or Afro-Cuban, Sands develops the past while providing unusual and stimulating vehicles for the present… and for the future. He expresses himself through an extensive vocabulary of patterns, textures and structures, all the while maintaining a strong sense of understatement, sensitivity, taste and swing — hallmarks for as long as he has been playing.
From a very early age, Christian possessed an insatiable appetite for music. He was enrolled in music classes at age 4 and wrote his first composition at age 5. He started playing professionally at the age of 10, and studied at the Neighborhood Music School and the Educational Center for the Arts in New Haven, CT. He received his Bachelor of Arts and Masters of Arts degrees from the Manhattan School of Music. For his participation on the MSM “Kenya Revisited” album, Sands received a Grammy Nomination for Best Latin Piano Solo.
Since arriving on the scene, Sands has shared the stage with many jazz luminaries as Wynton Marsalis, Diane Reeves, Shelia E, Warren Wolf, Tia Fuller, Gary Burton, Stefan Harris, Teri Lynne Carrington, Jason Moran, Geri Allen, James Moody, Bill Evans (sax), Russell Malone, Terrance Blanchard, Louis Hayes, Patti Austin, Kurt Elling and Dee Dee Bridgewater. He served as the Creative Ambassador for the Erroll Garner foundation, Artist in Residence for Jazz in July Education program at University of Massachusetts, Artist in Residence for Monterey Jazz Festival for 2020-2022 – he was the Creative Director for the ‘Monterey Festival Band on Tour’ 2022-2023.
Christian provides a soulful melodic touch on S. Epatha Merkerson’s documentary, “Contradictions of Fairhope,” a soundtrack recorded with McBride and a melodic piano introduction to Netflix’s Biopic documentary “Rustin” of which he recorded with Branford Marsalis. He was named one of the future rising stars by Wynton Marsalis in Jet Magazine. Vanity Fair’s “Jazz Youth-Quake” also named him as a future jazz star. He was finalist for the 2015 Cole Porter Jazz Fellowship Award sponsored by the America Pianist Association.
Just embarking on his 30s, Sands has already enjoyed a remarkable career trajectory including a 2013 Grammy nomination with renowned Bassist Christian McBride and 2021 Grammy Nomination for Best Jazz Instrumental Composition and 52nd Annual NAACP Image Award Nominee for Outstanding Jazz Album Instrumental for his third album “Be Water” recording for Mack Avenue Records.
His music has taken him to many international stages. In 2023 he received Chevalier de L’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, rank of Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters, from France Minister of Culture.
The Band:
Christian Sands – bandleader, pianist
Ryan Sands – Drummer
Gilad Hekelsman – Guitar
Scott Colley – Bass
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Adrian Francis Rollini was born June 28, 1903 in New York City, New York of French and Swiss extraction. Growing up in Larchmont, New York, he showed musical ability early on and began to take piano lessons at the age of two. Considered a child prodigy, he played a fifteen-minute recital at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel at the age of four. By age 14 he was leading his group composed of neighborhood boys, in which he doubled on piano and xylophone.
Leaving high school in his third year he cut piano rolls for the Aeolian company on their Mel-O-Dee label and the Republic brand in Philadelphia, Pennsyolvania. At 16 he joined Arthur Hand’s California Ramblers and being equally skilled at piano, drums, xylophone, and bass saxophone, gained him Hand’s respect. Hand transferred the band to Rollini when he retired from the music field.
During the 1920s not only was he a member of the California Ramblers with Red Nichols, Jimmy and Tommy Dorsey, he also held membership in The Little Ramblers, The Goofus Five, and The Golden Gate Orchestra. During this time, he managed to lay down hundreds of sessions with Annette Hanshaw, Cliff Edwards, Joe Venuti, Miff Mole, Red Nichols, Bix Beiderbecke, Roger Wolfe Kahn, and Frank Trumbauer.
The 1930s saw him forming the Adrian Rollini Orchestra which recorded on Perfect, Vocalion, Melotone, Banner, and Romeo labels, where he played both bass saxophone and vibraphone. During the early swing era, starting in 1935, he managed Adrian’s Tap Room, owned the Whitby Grill, and opened White Way Musical Products, a store for the sale and repair of musical instruments.
Gradually shifting from the bass saxophone to the vibraphone after popularity of the hot jazz era of the 1920s waned. He went on to play hotels, arranging and writing songs behind the scenes. After an exhaustive career, he made his last recording with his trio in the early 1950s. He relocated to Florida, opened the Eden Roc Hotel in 1955, ran the Driftwood Inn at Tavernier Key and his Driftwood offered deep-sea fishing charters.
Bass saxophonist, pianist, and vibraphonist Adrian Rollini, died under unsolved circumstances on May 15, 1956 at the age of 52 in Homestead, Florida.
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PIECES OF A DREAM
The group was formed in Philadelphia during 1976 by bassist Cedric Napoleon, drummer Curtis Harmon, and keyboardist James Lloyd who were all teenagers at the time. The group based their name on “Pieces of Dreams”, a Michel Legrand tune recorded by Stanley Turrentine that they regularly performed. In 1981 Pieces of a Dream had a minor soul hit with “Warm Weather” with vocals by singer Barbara Walker and synthesizer by Dexter Wansel, which was recorded on Elektra Records and co-produced by Dexter Wansel. In late 1983, the group had their most successful single, “Fo-Fi-Fo”, which peaked at No. 13 on the US soul chart. During their time with Elektra Records from 1981 to 1983, the group’s first three albums were produced by saxophonist Grover Washington, Jr.
Over the course of their nearly 50 year career they have released twenty albums, the last of which was Fired Up in 2021 and the final recording session for bassist Cedric A. Napoleon who died in June 2024. They have never lost their heat!
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Terrence Mitchell Riley was born in Colfax, California on June 24, 1935 and grew up in Redding, California. In the 1950s, he began performing as a solo pianist and studied composition at San Francisco State University, the San Francisco Conservatory, and the University of California Berkeley, studying with Seymour Shifrin and Robert Erickson.
Befriending minimalist omposer La Monte Young, together they performed Riley’s improvisatory composition Concert for Two Pianists and Tape Recorders in 1959–60. Riley later became involved in the experimental San Francisco Tape Music Center, working with Morton Subotnick, Steve Reich, Pauline Oliveros, and Ramon Sender. Throughout the 1960s, he also traveled frequently in Europe, taking in musical influences and supporting himself by playing in piano bars. He also performed briefly with the Theatre of Eternal Music in New York in 1965-1966.
His most influential teacher was Pandit Pran Nath, a master of Indian classical voice who also taught La Monte Young, Marian Zazeela, and Michael Harrison. Riley made numerous trips to India over the course of their association to study and accompany him on tabla, tambura, and voice. In 1971 he joined the Mills College faculty to teach Indian classical music. Riley also cites John Cage and “the really great chamber music groups of John Coltrane and Miles Davis, Charles Mingus, Bill Evans, and Gil Evans as influences on his work.
His long-lasting association with the Kronos Quartet began around 1980 and throughout his career Terry composed 13 string quartets for the ensemble. in addition
Organist, pianist, saxophonist and tamburist Terry Riley, who teaches both as an Indian raga vocalist and as a solo pianist, continues to perform live.
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MAUSIKI SCALES
Mausiki Scales and the Common Ground Collective, an Atlanta-based ensemble, is a dynamic eight-piece+ band that delves into musical styles from West Africa, including Afrobeat and Funk. Mausiki Scales and the Common Ground Collective explore the musical threads connecting the African Diaspora, celebrating shared roots and influences. Afrobeat, a genre pioneered by Nigerian multi-instrumentalist Fela Kuti, is known for its energetic, hypnotic grooves anchored by a rhythm section with roots in traditional African music, Highlife, and James Brown-inspired Funk. This style features a powerful horn section delivering tight, percussive lines and improvisational Jazz solos, call-and-response vocals from lead and background singers, and the vibrant movements of African dancers.
Musical Director and keyboardist Mausiki Scales released his latest album, Long Memory, in the summer of 2024. Scales’ recordings include collaborations with legends like Roy Ayers, Les Nubians, Speech and Kirk Whalum.
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