Q & A time with Carmen Sandim during Women’s History Month

Carmen Sandim started taking piano lessons in Brazil as a little girl and as a teenager played for Chick Corea.  In 2005 she moved to Colorado and pretty much hit the ground running. This talented lady opened a piano teaching school, obtained a Master’s Degree from C.U., and a Bachelor’s Degree from Berklee College and currently teaches at Metro, UCD, and Naropa University.

She recently was kind enough to share with me some answers to questions that I have been recently asking Colorado women who are part of the jazz scene.

Carmen who are some of your Shero’s in Jazz?

Maria Schneider is my no. 1 Shero composer! I hear the entire gamut of human experience in her writing!

Esperanza Spalding’s fearlessness as a performer and artist

Cassandra Wilson’s unique voice and style

Local Shero’s

Emily Takahashi – daring composer

Tenia Nelson – unique pianist

Annie Booth – entrepreneur spirit and mastery 

Jill Friedericksen and Amy Shelley – amazing drummers and collaborators

Anisha Rush – beautiful tone

So many more, I could keep going for pages…

What got you interested in jazz?

When I was 16 years old, I was a participant of a music festival in Brazil (Campos de Jordao Winter Festival), and by chance ended up playing for CHICK COREA during a workshop. I actually did not know who he was until after the workshop, when a fellow festival participant asked me if I knew who that was. That interaction opened up my ears to new ways of interacting with music both as a listener and as a musician. I was taking classical piano lessons at the time, and much to my piano teacher’s disapproval, my interest in playing strictly what was on the page dwindled, as my desire to exercise musical freedom flourished…

What is your favorite jazz song and why?

It would be impossible to pick one favorite jazz song… here are my top 5

Schneider’s “Hang Gliding” 

Wayne Shorter’s “Infant Eyes”

Jobim’s “Passarim”

Ellington’s “Transbluecency”

Corea’s “Three Quartets”

What inspires you about Jazz?

I am inspired by the values that have shaped the jazz legacy for the past 100 years – creation, curiosity, innovation, and collaboration. I am grateful and proud to be a part of this legacy, and I strive to honor it with my most authentic music expression.

More information about Carmen is available at her website.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KpVx1KujaRY