Connor Sablan
CHamoru Pianist, Composer
Young CHamoru Jazz Pianist Releases Single
By: Jaqueline Guzman
"Sablan was born on Guam and hails from Pulantat, Yona. He left in 2014 to pursue a musical education in the states.
His influences from Guam include Johnny Sablan, Frank “Bokonggo” Pangelinan, JD Crutch, KC De Leon Guerrero and other classic CHamoru artists.
“I’ve used CHamoru music as well as teachings from my mother and grandmothers to help me learn our language,” Sablan said. “I’ve also been greatly influenced by the new generation of CHamoru musicians who have drawn attention to our island from the international musical community.
Sablan said bands such as Hale, For Peace Band, The John Dank Show and others are “holding it down” and making Guam a hotbed for live music and artistic expression, which he appreciates.
The young musician has always had music in his life. His father was the first person he witnessed play the guitar and it was his dad who first gave Sablan his love for hard rock and alternative music.
Sablan lives in Hayward, California, in the East Bay Area these days.
“I teach piano four days a week and play as many shows as my body and mind will let me,” he said. “I try to play with as many bands as I can and with as many styles as possible.”
Sablan teaches piano to more than 30 students at the Bay Area Academy of Music.
He graduated from the College of San Mateo with a degree in music.
“I knew this wasn’t a ‘solid’ career path but I had no other choice,” Sablan said. “Everything in my life was calling me toward it so all I could do is double down on music and try to learn everything I can. I was like a sponge in college.”
Sablan explained jazz wasn’t so much of a choice but rather a reaction to his surroundings when he selected jazz to focus on.
“The College of San Mateo has one of the best jazz radios in the country (KCSM). I’m not exaggerating about that,” he said. “Their catalog is deep and wide. They also had an excellent jazz program for a community college, one of the best in the state.”
It was deeper than this for Sablan, however.
“It wasn’t until I heard John Coltrane’s ‘A Love Supreme,’ … I was floored,” he said. “I didn’t know you could do that with your instrument.”
A true love for jazz was born.
Sablan explained the song was “chaotic but perfect order at the same time” and was “contradiction and revelation at the same time” while also being “light and dark living together within music.”
Around this time, Sablan was introduced to the jam session scene in San Francisco and discovered Club Deluxe on Haight Street. Every Monday night on, he was able to witness live what he could only listen to on records.
“These musicians were flying off the stage with eighth-note runs and new harmonic vocabulary I’ve never heard before,” said Sablan. “They played so fast. It was like watching the ferocity heavy metal or hard rock. After that, I glued myself to the piano and tried to learn everything I could. It was amazing and I still haven’t recovered.”
“Hummingbird” is the first single on Sablan’s forthcoming album.
The track features multi-instrumentalist Chase Jackson on lead vibraphone, Emilio Davalos on congas and various percussion, Ben Visini on drums, and Sablan on the piano and upright bass. “Hummingbird” was released Feb. 24 on all platforms, according to a press release from Sablan.
PDN Article, Mes CHamoru Musicians: Connor Sablan
March 7th 2023
By:Samantha Barnett
CHamoru musician Connor Sablan, who was raised in Guam and is now living in the Bay Area, found his way to jazz music and hasn’t looked back since. Sablan released a new single “Hummingbird” on Feb. 24, and plans to release a series of singles over the coming months before dropping a full-length album in July. “It’s definitely a jazz album, it’s an album based heavily on Bossa Nova and Samba, so Brazilian styles of jazz. It’s based mainly on that kind of jazz, but also swing jazz and the American modern interpretation of jazz. It has some rock songs on it, too, and a hip-hop song. It’s like a fusion of a bunch of music,” Sablan said. Growing up in Guam, Sablan was immersed in music through school choirs and excelled as a piano player. He then left the island to attend the College of San Mateo, in California’s Bay Area, which offered a robust music program. It was there that Sablan cut his teeth on jazz. “When I got to San Mateo, that’s what everybody was playing in the music program…They were all hanging out at each other’s houses playing jazz and I was like ‘dude, I have no idea how to do that.’ The first time my friends came over, I was like ‘I don’t know what to do.’ Then I joined the band there...and I was like ‘this music is kind of cool.’ You could do a lot with it, you could solo, you could improvise. But what really got me into jazz, the thing that really just got my attention, is when I heard ‘A Love Supreme,’ that album by John Coltrane. That just blew my mind open. I didn’t know that you could play like that,” Sablan said....