www.montereycountynow.com SEPTEMBER 25-OCTOBER 1, 2025 MONTEREY COUNTY WEEKLY 19 Earl Hines, you gotta pay attention to that, right? Or talking to Dr. Billy Taylor and he’s talking about Teddy Wilson, or talking to Jason Moran and hearing the stories about studying with Jaki Byard, right? Maybe being a part of the lineage of not just jazz piano, but jazz as a whole, I think I’ve always realized that I am carrying this information that was passed down from Jelly Roll [Morton], from all those cats into me now, and in my job is to pass it to the next generation. You’ve spoken about how martial arts influences your music, particularly the 2020 album Be Water. I’m curious if you have a martial arts practice today? I don’t necessarily have a practice today—other than meditation. That’s really it. But growing up, I tried many different styles of martial arts. My father was also an instructor when he was younger, we both just had a love of martial arts, especially Bruce Lee. And that style is very unique and it’s very specific. What I loved about it, it is very much like jazz, where you have these fundamental ideas that are there, but everything is about the individual, and everything is about creation and everything’s about just being aware and being present in the moment—all the time. I think that the best way to approach the music of jazz is that it’s being present all the time, whether you’re playing it or whether you’re listening to it. Whether it’s music or everyday situations, I think that if we don’t try to control it all, we just try to be the example of what we want it to be. Like Bruce Lee, be like water, right? Be present consistently. I think that is a way that we can navigate through these treacherous terrains and waters that we go through. And not drown. What’s your routine on any given day? Since I’ve been home and I’ve been preparing for this MJF commission piece, my routine has been wake up, meditate, maybe make a cup of coffee or matcha. That’s kind of been my new thing is creating that, which I really love to do with the whisk in the bowl and the whole thing. It’s really meditative in itself, right? And then I will go from my apartment to my parents’ home, I don’t have my piano here. I left it there because I sort of like going to the office. I kind of like the idea of traveling to work. And on my drive, I listen to some music, just something to get my day started. It might be the new record that just came out, like lately I’ve been listening to Immanuel Wilkins’ new record, which sounds phenomenal. And then I’ll go and I’ll practice, and I’ll warm up, and then I’ll start writing for the commission piece. Are you more of a coffee or a tea drinker? I grew up being a tea drinker. And then I became a coffee drinker the more I went to Italy. My girlfriend bought me an espresso machine for my birthday last year, and so now, literally, that’s what I create—I make these different types of drinks that I’m loving, whether it’s a caramel cold foam, a cappuccino or a cortado. When it comes to the music you listen to, is it mostly jazz? It’s absolutely everything. There’s times where my alarm wakes me up to an Indian raga because I just love how meditative it is, and I love how it begins the day, right? I love listening to music from Mali, I love listening to Toumani Diabate—I love listening to him. I also listen to birds and bird songs. Sometimes in my meditation, I’ll just either open the window or I’ll find birds on YouTube and just play them. I do have quite a big library of bird sounds on my phone from my travels. Birds and frogs—I absolutely love how they sound. I tell my students to listen to everything. Don’t shut yourself off to one style of music and disregard the other one. You might have a favorite and you can listen to that, sure. But there’s information everywhere. Despite a commitment to fostering younger musicians, jazz accounts for just about 1 percent of music sales last year, down from 3 percent 20 years ago. It’s always been a niche genre, but if you could wave your magic wand, what might you do to help broaden its appeal? Oh, man. There’s so many things. I find it interesting that sometimes the creators or the patrons get stuck in the old. And when I say stuck in the old, it’s not just that it has to swing, for example. I think it’s how it’s presented—especially in the day of social media, I think jazz is behind on that. I will say the older generation needs to make room for the newer generation and they need to be championed, because they are going to continue to do better and the encouragement helps. Who’s somebody you would love to have dinner with, living or not? I would have loved to have dinner with Wayne Shorter. I never got the opportunity to. I met him once in a hotel lobby in Umbria. He was leaving, and I was checking in, and it was like 6 in the morning, something like that. There were no words exchanged because everyone is tired. But I would have loved to have had dinner with him—and just talk about the universe with him. And, if I can add another person, like him and Neil deGrasse Tyson, I feel like the two of them would just be really interesting to talk to. At the same time. So you’d like to have dinner for three? Yeah, yeah. I would do that. You know. If I could add another person for four, I’d say John Williams. Dinner for four now. Yeah, John Williams, Wayne Shorter and Neil deGrasse Tyson. I feel like that would be a really interesting conversation. If we can keep building, add Picasso. Actually, a really interesting dinner now: Wayne Shorter, Neil deGrasse Tyson, John Williams, Pablo Picasso. And add Salvador Dalí. Christian Sands performs at the Monterey Jazz Festival at 3:30pm Saturday, Sept. 27 at the Pacific Jazz Café, and again at 1:30pm Sunday, Sept. 28 on the Jimmy Lyons Stage in the main arena. An extended version of this article can be found on montereycountynow.com. Monterey Jazz Festival takes place Friday, Sept. 26-Sunday, Sept. 28 at the Monterey County Fair and Event Center, 2004 Fairground Road, Monterey. $63-$279/ single day; $198-$693/three-day pass. For tickets and schedule, visit montereyjazzfestival.org. Christian Sands first graced the Monterey Jazz Festival stage a decade ago. The pianist and composer will unveil six original songs written exclusively for the festival. ANNA WEBBER Christian Sands mentors students in Monterey Jazz’s Summer Jazz Camp at Stevenson School in Pebble Beach. RANDY TUNNELL
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