Be Water

Indeed, Be Water's relaxed intensity alone might call Bruce Lee to mind, mirroring his storied intellect and controlled physicality. — AllMusic, July 2020, 4 and a half out of 5 stars More…

Release Date: 17th Jul 2020
Catalogue No: MAC1170LP
Label: Mack Avenue

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July 2020
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Be Water

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It can be overwhelming to realize how much water surrounds us, affects us and impacts our lives. It's an element vital to survival yet can be utterly devastating; it can be placid and beautiful or torrential and violent. It's ubiquitous flowing at the turn of a faucet, comprising 70% of our own bodies yet somehow intangible, able to change form or assume the shape of its surroundings. On his stunning new album, Be Water, pianist Christian Sands takes inspiration from water's tranquility and power and muses on the possibilities offered by echoing its fluidity and malleability. Through ten gorgeous and thrilling pieces, Sands alternately conjures the serenity of a sun-dappled lake and the drama of a relentless thunderstorm. Just embarking on his 30s, Sands has already enjoyed a remarkable career trajectory, touring and recording with Christian McBride's Inside Straight and Trio, as well as collaborating with the likes of Gregory Porter and Ulysses Owens. Released on May 22 2020, Be Water is Sands' fourth release (including a five-track digital-only EP as an extension of his debut album Reach) for Mack Avenue Music Group. The album takes its title from the philosophy of martial arts master and movie star Bruce Lee (by way of screenwriter Stirling Silliphant, who distilled his thoughts for the screen). Lee's voice appears on both halves of Sands' title track offering this profound advice: "Empty your mind. Be formless, shapeless, like water. If you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup; you put water into a bottle, it becomes the bottle... Water can flow, or it can crash. Be water, my friend." (Bruce Lee inspirational quote)

Reviews

July 2020

Indeed, Be Water's relaxed intensity alone might call Bruce Lee to mind, mirroring his storied intellect and controlled physicality.

September 2020

[Sands] is a highly eloquent pianist who can swing in his sleep. But as a composer he has a contemporary approach and, as with Bruce Lee’s ‘water’ metaphor, he reshapes his piano playing according to the vessel…

Be Water

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Be Water

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