Christian Sands ‘Reach’ CD (Mack Avenue) 4/5

Young pianist Christian Sands is a talent to watch out for and this largely original set, bar two carefully selected adaptations of classic soul numbers, is co-produced by another Christian, namely bassist McBride, and drummer Al Foster. Saxophonist Marcus Strickland guests on four numbers.

Pianistic influences seem to include both Bud Powell and Chick Corea, and there is in fact a tribute to the latter on, ‘Armando’s song’, which is a thinly disguised homage to Corea’s very own 1970s opus, ‘Armando’s Rhumba’, but what is interesting here is that the composition is performed by Sands as a straight-ahead piano trio number without any hint of Latinization. That said, Sands is interested in how Latin music and jazz interweave and overarches one another and he does explore Latin rhythms and more specifically their connection to Africa on, ‘¡Oyemé!’, which showcases some lovely bass and percussion work.

Elsewhere, bop hues are evident on, ‘Bud’s tune’, this time in reference to the great Bud Powell and this piece is performed by the trio with blues inflexions from the leader and some fine polyrhythmic licks from the drummer. An interesting choice of standards emerges on ‘Use me’, the Bill Withers’ song, which is taken here at a relaxed mid-tempo with a jazz-rock tinged guitar solo from Gilad Hekselman, who features on three numbers, and is very much in the vein of John Scofield. The album ends with a ballad, co-written by Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil, ‘Somewhere out there’, that is again a piano trio with great subtlety on bass and the softest of percussion. Christian Sands is a new name with a promising feature and this recording will certainly enhance his growing reputation.

Tim Stenhouse