Chords for Pianist Christian Sands on Christian McBride

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_ _ _ _ Meeting Christian [Ab] McBride, I mean, you know, that's, there's so much to be said. _
_ _ I first met him, I moved to New York and went to Manhattan School of Music and I think it
was like the first two weeks [Eb] or so.
_ _ [Ab]
You know, I was hanging out with different musicians, you know, people my own age, we
were all playing and all that kind of stuff.
And I remember I was talking to a friend of mine who was a drummer _ [Abm] and he said, yeah,
McBride is doing this talk, like he's doing like [C] a seminar at _ _ the Harlem Jazz Museum.
All right, so I was like, all right, cool.
Like do you want to go?
Like yeah, of course.
So let's go down.
[Eb] _ And so I went down, he was doing a talk basically on, [Ab] I think it was Miles Davis.
He was playing a lot of [G] Miles Davis.
So he played a lot of examples, talked about it, talked about the music.
_ _ _ And so after that, you know, if you know McBride he's very humble and he's a great guy to talk to.
So he was there just hanging out and so I went up to him afterwards like hi, I'm Christian
Sands, I'm a pianist, I'm a big fan of yours and all that kind of stuff.
He's like all right, cool. _
He's like you're a pianist, huh?
I was like yeah.
And so there was a piano in the corner.
And he said, [E] oh, let me hear you play something.
So there's this piano, it had the cover on it.
So I uncovered the piano, [Eb] there was no pedals. _
Like strings were missing.
You know, it was just like a piece of work, you know.
And so I tried my best to play something on this piano.
Like there's some notes missing, [C] like keys missing.
And so after that, I remember his [G] reaction.
He's like all right, cool.
_ And so like I remember [Ab] going back to the dorms where I was staying at, you know, and just
being like oh my God, you know.
This is my one shot of talking and impressing Christian McBride and I just bombed it.
I was just like [E] this is horrible.
[C] And I know I play better than that.
You know you start to get to yourself.
And so I hadn't seen him since.
_ And then _ _ I _ _ got [Eb] a call from the legendary, the great Mary McPartland.
[Eb] And she was doing her show Piano Jazz.
And she asked me to be on it.
And so this was a couple years later.
And [Ab] I was like great, you know.
And they, [E] because I think she wasn't feeling well.
She [Ab] was under the weather so she had Christian McBride sub for her.
So _ I met him at the studio.
I went down, I met him at the studio.
I was warming up and he came in.
You know his presence was there.
You know you could hear his big voice, you know. _ _
And you know just talking to him and just him doing the interview and him interviewing me.
It was wonderful.
We played a little bit together which was great.
So I was like finally in my head I was like finally I have a good piano where I can play
something that I hear that maybe he'll be okay with.
Because that last one was just not cool.
You know and then after that we met and it was like cool. _
_ You know nice to meet you, all that kind of stuff.
We did the interview and then I left.
[Eb] _
Marcus Roberts was being interviewed after me so I was hoping to catch him but I [Abm] didn't
get a chance to catch him.
And so I think it was a [Ab] year later I was [A] asked by a couple students from Juilliard, a couple
of students, to do this program that McBride ran [B] in Aspen, [C] Colorado.
And I said yeah sure.
So I flew out there to Aspen and met him there.
You [Ab] know I was playing with this group and the group was cool.
You know there was a whole bunch of different groups that were out there, all talented musicians.
[C] And _ we [Eb] ended up getting a chance to talk more and to [A] play together more and just really rap.
And that's [Ab] also when I met Ulysses Owens as well.
[E] So we met there.
And so _ [Ab] when I met Ulysses we kind of hit it off right off the bat, like a brotherhood
kind of thing.
So we started talking, emailing each other, all that kind of stuff.
_ _ So I left Aspen and a few months later I got a call from Christian's manager, Andre Guess,
and he says McBride is doing a week at the Jazz Standard in New York.
How would you like to play?
And so my mind was like [Eb] _ _
[C] what?
Of course, yeah, yeah, yeah.
But I can't say that.
Like yeah, yeah, yeah.
I think I'm free.
I don't think I have class that day.
[Ab] But I mean I'm just psyched.
I mean I was [B] just like, I think I was in a practice room like practicing.
[D] And I got that call and I was like [G] heck yeah, let's do this.
And so he sent [Ab] the music, he sent the CD.
I mean I listened to that CD backwards and forwards.
It was on my iPod.
I was going to class, listening to it, leaving class, listening to it, playing some of the
examples in [Ebm] class.
I was like I need to shed on this, I need to get this.
_ _ And then we played that first week at the Standard and I remember those first two [Ab] nights
were just so nerve wracking. _
Well the first night in particular [Eb] because there was no rehearsal [Ebm] _ _ [C] and there was no sound check.
I got there early and this is the first time I met Warren Wolf was there and _ Warren was
just muscular and just intimidating at that time.
And he didn't really say much.
And I never met him.
So now we're like really good friends.
But back then, my first time meeting him, Carl Allen was there, and so these _ masters.
And I was just like, Steve Wilson.
_ And so [Abm] _
[Eb] I was just so nervous.
Especially this was my first big gig in New York City.
And then playing with [E] McBride.
And McBride showed up a little bit later, right before the _ set went on.
So I didn't know what we were playing.
[Ab] I didn't know what was going first.
I was just like okay, just got to be cool, just got to be ready, just got to _ play my butt off.
Just get in there and just play.
And I remember the first night I put everything I had [D] into that. _ _
Just all the information [Eb] I knew and just blah. _
You know?
And I remember leaving it like all right, well maybe next time I won't play as [D] much.
So the next day I played less.
_ And so I tried to move the barrier.
I was like okay, if I play a lot this is going to be like, if I play a little it's going
to be like [Ab] this.
So the third night, by the third night I was comfortable and I had this little medium thing
of like okay, this is how the music is going to go.
And I also had words with Steve Wilson and talked to them about it.
How do you do this?
How do you play?
So talking about mentorship, Steve Wilson, through all those [Abm] years, I mean to now I'll
call him up and just ask him questions about _ having this kind of [C] problem or like I'm trying
to think of this for a composition or whatever and he's just always _ the answer I [Eb] call him.
Because he always helps me out and bails me out.
He'll just try this or [Abm] try this or try this.
_ But yeah, that was my _ beginning [Eb] of working [Ab] with Christian McBride.
And then after The Standard we did a whole bunch of other stuff with his group and then
we decided to do some trio stuff [A] and then ever since then it's been trio.
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