Nick Sanders is an American pianist, composer, and producer currently living in Los Angeles, California. He was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin to a musical family where he started playing drums at age three then switching over to piano when he was seven years old. Nick ultimately focused on the classical repertoire, performing and competing in dozens of piano competitions from a young age, favoring the music of Bach, Chopin, Joplin, Rachmaninoff and Prokofiev.

In high school, he attended the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts (NOCCA) in Louisiana, a public performing and visual arts high school, graduating in 2006. While at NOCCA, he switched from classical to jazz piano (while continuing to work on classical music with his private teacher). While enrolled in NOCCA’s jazz program, Nick studied with the clarinetist Alvin Batiste and pianist Michael Pellera. As a young teenager, he occasionally played piano with Batiste’s band, including performances at Snug Harbor in the French Quarter. Additionally, Nick’s NOCCA piano trio which featured Max Moran - bass and Joey Peebles - drums won first place at the North Texas Jazz Festival competition and opened for Chick Corea at the festival's closing concert. 

Sanders later earned his bachelor's and master's degrees from the New England Conservatory of Music (NEC) in Boston, MA where he studied with pianists Fred Hersch, Jason Moran, and Danilo Pérez. During his time at NEC he performed often in Boston with his piano trio, as well as with saxophonist George Garzone’s group in both Boston and New York before moving to New York City in 2012. Additionally, during this time Nick was awarded the “Eubie Blake Piano Award for Performance Excellence of Traditional American Music,” from 2009-2012, consecutively.

Upon graduating from NEC and arriving in New York, Nick was signed to the esteemed Sunnyside Records label. Pianist Fred Hersch served as the producer for his first two piano trio albums, Nameless Neighbors (2013) and You Are a Creature (2015). During this time, Nick’s trio performed primarily at venues in New York City and New Orleans including a critically acclaimed performance at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. In 2015, Nick was also featured on solo piano at the Amiens Jazz Festival in Amiens, France. In 2016, Nick recorded the piano/saxophone duo album, Janus, with friend and fellow Sunnyside Records artist and saxophonist Logan Strosahl. In 2019, Nick released his third jazz trio album for Sunnyside, Playtime 2050.  His first solo piano album, also on the Sunnyside label, Phantoms of Memory, was written and recorded during the 2020 pandemic. Both the albums feature entirely original compositions, with the latter being classically inspired and almost entirely through-composed, taking influences from composers Debussy, Chopin, Prokofiev, Glass and others.