Jazz pianist Nick Sanders to play his first-ever solo gig at Snug Harbor

At 17, Nick Sanders was newly converted to jazz piano after spending the previous decade studying classical music.

His conversion was affirmed one night at Snug Harbor when saxophonist Wes “Warmdaddy” Andersson, in need of a last-minute replacement, asked if any piano players were in the house. Sanders volunteered and did so well that Andersson paid him.

Now 23, the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts alumnus is pursuing graduate studies at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston. Back home on summer break, he’ll play his first-ever solo piano show at Snug Harbor past Thursday, June 30.

He’ll likely showcase original material and standards by Thelonious Monk, Charlie Parker and Cole Porter. He’ll also take advantage of the freedom afforded by a solo gig, improvising interludes and toying around with improvised counterpoint and other elements of classical and Renaissance music, keeping things loose.

As the late Alvin Batiste, one of his NOCCA instructors, advised him, “You don’t want to get it too good.”

From: http://www.nola.com/music/index.ssf/2011/06/jazz_pianist_nick_sanders_to_p.html