Christian Sands - Be Water (2020) [Official Digital Download 24/96]

A small opus which rises from within, "Intro," unassuming title and all, begins Be Water, a true wealth of music which pianist Christian Sands has designed to flow not only like the awe-inspiring, fear-inducing title element, but like mercy, freely and without boundary.

And so it does. For next is "Sonar," a romping festival of feisty performances from Sands and his core trio of bassist Yasushi Nakamura and drummer Clarence Penn which is meant to assure each other and listeners alike that they're setting out for points as much known as unknown on all cylinders. They're cutting no corners. They'll call upon the masters one moment, (Art Blakey effortlessly and thankfully comes to mind) or they'll push their collective sense of new bop to the margins.

For a little perspective, Facing Dragons (Mack Avenue Records, 2018) was hailed uniformly, by friend and foe alike, to be a wide-ranging master class. Be Water, Sands' fourth release for Mack Avenue Records, goes beyond that, positing new horizons with new promises and new voices brought to the fore. That said, the next voice you hear is Bruce Lee, (yes that Bruce Lee) Buddha-like urging "Be formless, shapeless like water" and thus "Be Water I" takes the shape of expectation driven by Penn's boundless sense of time, Sands' ever more expressive Rhodes, and the entwined front line featuring tenor saxophonist Sean Jones and trombonist Steve Davis.

TRACKLIST

1. Christian Sands - Intro
2. Christian Sands - Sonar
3. Christian Sands - Be Water I
4. Christian Sands - Crash
5. Christian Sands - Drive
6. Christian Sands - Steam
7. Christian Sands - Can’t Find My Way Home
8. Christian Sands - Be Water II
9. Christian Sands - Still
10. Christian Sands - Outro



Thanks to the Original customer.