via Downbeat November print edition
A diverse mix of styles and impulses are emitted on Embracing Dawn, pianist and composer Christian Sands’ extremely impressive latest recording. Sands and crew offer a grab bag of flavors: gospel-tinged overtures, gutbucket soul, slick hard-bop licks or heavily laced funk, as on “MMC” means “Mom’s mac and cheese,” but it could well be “Mulgrew and McCoy” given the acceleration and propulsive ostinato. There is also a bit of ambiguity to “Embracing Dawn,” which can be construed as a lover or the break of day; either way, an explosive sound emerges and it’s pointless to separate Marvin Sewell’s guitar from Warren Wolf’s vibraphone or Gregoire Maret’s harmonica: it’s just a glorious concoction of feeling.
“Thought Bubbles” comes in two parts: the first, Sands’ piano asking “Can We Talk?” and the second, lively harmonic responses from drummer Ryan Sands and bassist Yasushi Nakamura. Sands’ versatility and imaginative flights are pervasive on “Divergent Journeys.” He has an intuitive way of meshing a variety of musical formats in a singular mode, never losing that tendency to swing.
And when the temptation to swing is subdued and the ensemble decides on a reflective motif, as they do on “Braises de Requiem I (The Embers Requiem, Mov. I),” it’s merely another example of how adept Sands and his group are at presenting a full complement of orchestrals colors and moods.
– Herb Boyd