By Kharisma McIlwaine

Five-time Grammy-nominated jazz pianist and composer Christian Sands, a protégé of the legendary Dr. Billy Taylor and a long-time collaborator with bassist Christian McBride, has established himself as one of the most inventive and versatile voices in modern jazz. His 2020 album “Be Water,” named just before the pandemic, encouraged a shift toward being fluid. “Be Water” was followed by the 2024 release “Embracing Dawn,” a deeply personal work of healing, documenting his own transitional journey while offering a safe space for listeners navigating their own hardships.

Christian Sands
Photo: @christiansandsjazz

In 2025, Sands added a new significant chapter to his discography with “Wildflowers, Vol. 3,” a critically praised duet album with two-time Grammy-winning vocalist Kurt Elling. The album captures the pair’s unique musical language through fresh interpretations of standards and originals. Fans will have the rare opportunity to experience this collaboration live when Sands accompanies Elling for a one-night-only performance of the “Wildflowers” project in Philadelphia. Sands spoke with the SUN about the power of collaboration and the beauty of live performance.

The inspiration behind Sands’ 2020 album “Be Water” is best described as foresight.

“Well, funny enough I named it that just because I was anticipating it,” he said. “It was one of those concepts of ‘this is something that I feel like we all should be accustomed to or at least get familiar with’ — but I did not think that we were gonna have to actually do that. I feel like all my album titles sort of predict what’s going to happen. So, let’s name the next album, “Prosperity and Peace.” Hopefully that will put it out in the universe.”

Art imitated life again in the 2024 release of his album “Embracing Dawn.” For Sands, the project became more than just a recording — it was a deliberate act of creating sanctuary.

“I think in a similar way to “Be Water,” “Embracing Dawn,” was we’ve been through some things, now we’re going through things— so what do we do?” he said. “How do we get through these hardships that we’ve gone through, or whatever friction that you’ve been through? So, I decided to document the journey that I was on at that time. I tried to also create a space where listeners and people that were in similar situations or just in some sort of transitional period in their life could kind of have a safe haven to listen to and help get them through these times that they’re in.”

Sands admitted the album almost didn’t happen at all.

“I felt like when I was going through the transitional period in my life, I found myself getting my peace from music — from listening to different artists, to different stories and saying there’s a place for this,” he said. “I originally was not going to write that album at all, but a good friend of mine, Stefon Harris, encouraged me to create this space.” He said, ‘You know people go to these places to seek healing, to seek safety, so why not create that place for yourself and also for others as well?’ So I took his advice and I was, like, ‘Okay, well “Embracing Dawn” it is.’”

Kurt Elling
Photo by Anna Webber

Sands has often looked to trusted collaborators and mentors for both creative inspiration and personal grounding. That trust turned into artistic partnership in 2025 when he collaborated with longtime friend, two-time Grammy-winning vocalist Kurt Elling, on the duet album “Wildflowers Vol. 3.”

“Kurt and I have known each other for a good number of years now, and we’ve been really good friends,” Sands said. “We first met in Havana, Cuba at the International Jazz Day. We hit it off and went out to lunch. We just became really, really good friends. Then, after that, we worked together. I was the musical director for the Monterey Jazz Festival tour band, along with Dee Dee Bridgewater, Lakecia Benjamin, Yasushi Nakamura, [and] Clarence Penn, and Kurt was also a part of that as well. We were able to work together every day for about a month or two.

We really just developed this bond. He’s like my older brother. He’s someone where I can call him and we can talk about anything. Any kind of question that I have, whether it’s musical or just personal, about what is it like to be on the road and have a family at home? How do you navigate those things? I don’t have one, but these are questions that someone thinks about. So just to talk to him about real things is really wonderful.”

The deep trust and ease between Sands and Elling became the foundation of the album “Wildflowers, Vol. 3.”

“Putting this project together, the duet “Wildflowers,” he’s done it before,” Sands said. “This particular round, he asked me to do it. So I flew back from Copenhagen to Chicago, right into the studio, and we recorded these tunes. His concept was just us hanging out musically. That’s what we’re gonna record is just us just being us and having these musical conversations that we normally would have. That created this project. I mean, he’s done it with Sullivan Fortner before. He’s done amazing versions of these things. I’m really looking forward to performing it more. We did a tour last year, which was wonderful. So, we’re looking forward to continuing and adding more into the repertoire and creating the conversation.”

The undeniable bond between Sands and Elling allowed them to finish the project in a single day.

“We showed up at the studio, and it was very much, ‘Hey, what do you want to play? I’m thinking. ‘This, this and this. Alright, let’s try it out.

We’ll record while we try this out.’ Then we just ended up recording while we tried it out. ‘Okay, I think that’s cool, let’s try another one. How are you feeling? Are you jet lagged yet?’ That was very much that. It was very relaxing. I mean, working with Kurt is so wonderful, because the way he tells a story is so incredible. Even just playing around with music and diving into these different moments. There’s this time where I’m listening to him and I don’t want to play because I just want to listen because he tells it so well. I think you feel that when you listen to the record, but also when we perform. You feel us listening to each other and interacting with each other. There’s different ways we do it, so playing it live is very different than the record, but it’s always fun no matter which way you listen to it.”

Translating the studio version of “Wildflowers, Vol. 3” into a live stage performance presented an unexpected creative process for Sands and Elling.

“Well as you know, normally there’s rehearsals, right? There’s time to play the material, and then we go to the studio. This is the reverse,” Sands said. “It’s really interesting to now have consecutive days of playing this material and finding other things that we both talked about. We’d be, like, ‘Oh man, we should have recorded it this way,’ but that’s the beauty of it, right?”

“That’s the beauty of the concept of his record “Wildflowers,” but also just the conversation in music where it changes over time,” he continued. “I mean, that’s the beautiful thing about jazz— it changes consistently. It’s very much about being present and being in the moment. As we play it every day, it changes all the time. There’s nights where it’s absolutely incredible, and there’s nights where it’s incredible, and there’s nights where we’re, like, ‘I think we got to something.’ We’re not really sure, but the audience might hear something totally different, you know? It’s a really wonderful conversation, not just for us, but also with the audience as well.”

That openness to the unexpected led to some of the project’s most moving moments for audiences.

“There’s been times where we’ve said, ‘It was okay,’ and then somebody comes up to us crying, like, ‘Oh my God, it was so amazing!’ That’s the beautiful thing about music, right? It’s just a wonderful place where it takes you out of the things that you are preconceiving, and just trying to figure out, and it really is about being in the moment,” Sands said. “If you can stay in that moment and stay engaged in that moment and stay with everyone, everyone’s a part of the wavelength. If we can all stay in it, then some amazing things can happen. It’s not even just us creating it, but it’s also the audience creating it, too. We feel that on stage, we feel when the audience is with us, and it shifts us into different things too.”

Improvisation and exploration are central themes throughout “Wildflowers Vol. 3,” shaping not only how Sands and Elling approach each performance, but also how they continually rediscover the music itself.

“Every piece is always wonderful, because it’s a new opportunity to explore something,” Sands said. “That’s kind of the take that we have with this project is exploration. Exploring different moments of whether it’s the lyric or exploring harmonically, exploring rhythmically, exploring space, exploring time. There’s a lot of ways that we kind of dissect it. There’s a lot of ways that I approach it with him, too. There might be a moment where he’s used to me playing at this particular space, and I don’t because I’m, like, ‘No I want to hear. I want to explore the lyric with you’ or ‘I’ve changed the harmony behind this, because I think this would add a different emotion to that word that you say.’ I think that every song that we do we get to explore that. I think that’s the fun part about it is — it’s always new.”

“I think Philly will always attach itself and embrace authenticity,” Sands said. “And people love music. Love music, and they will give you that back, and you’ll feel it, you know?It’s been a while since I’ve been to Philly, but I love Philly! Philly is one of the most real audiences you can play for and I love it. I’m looking forward to playing and especially playing with him. I think it’s going to be fun to explore and to dive into music in front of a Philly audience because again Philly will let you know if they like it or not, but they are always wonderful. Every time I play in Philly, there is always a vibe, so it’s always fun. That’s the best place to play when you are really just honestly going for something. It’s wonderful to play for an audience that is there with you every step of the way. It’s a real audience. It’s an audience that is just we’re not here for the fluff. We want to get to the meat and potatoes. [They] want to get to it, and so do we. That’s why it’s always great to play for an audience like that.”

Be sure to visit Sands’ website at: http://www.christiansandsjazz.com/, where you can sign up for his mailing list and remain updated on upcoming performances. You can also follow him across social media platforms @christiansandsjazz.

Christian Sands will accompany Kurt Elling for a live performance of “Wildflowers” at the Kimmel Center’s Perelman Theater on February 27 at 7:30 p.m. For more information, visit: ensembleartsphilly.org.