Sandiford (Preston “Sandy”) is born in Cambridge.

The son of Barbadian immigrants, Sandy Sandiford graduates from Boston English High School, studies piano at the New England Conservatory of Music, and finds work playing, arranging, and leading his own jazz band in Boston clubs, hotels and theaters. He goes on to work and record with many jazz greats in Boston and in New York, serves as president of Local 535 of the Boston Musicians Union for 10 years and teaches at his studio at 162 Boylston Street. Sandiford dies on June 6, 1988 (June 25, 1983).