October 4, 2024

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Christian Sands trio, performing music from ‘Facing Dragons,’ on morning jazz: Video

Pianist and composer Christian Sands goes back quite a ways with WBGO — and with Gary Walker, who recalls first seeing him as a 12-year-old protégé of Dr. Billy Taylor. Sands is now 29, and one of his generation’s leading figures on the instrument.

He has an ambitiously realized new album, Facing Dragons, which is one reason he dropped back into our studio for a conversation with Walker on Morning Jazz.

Sands discussed Dr. Taylor, the prerogatives of “popular music” and much else — and provided musical interludes with his trio, featuring Barry Stephenson on bass and Jerome Jennings on drums.

Listen to the full session above — and watch a choice performance, of “Reaching For the Sun,” below.

Christian Sands