The finest musicians to spring from the world of jazz have clearly
had an advantage when it comes to branching into other genres of
music. Their mastery of composition, arranging and sight reading
coupled with their flair for improvisation and spontaneous creation
make them possibly the most seasoned and adaptable musicians
in the art. Grammy Award winner Christian McBride,
chameleonic virtuoso of the acoustic and electric bass, stands tall
at the top of this clique. Beginning in 1989 – the beginning of an
amazing career in which he still has wider-reaching goals to attain
- the Philadelphian has thus far been first-call-requested to
accompany literally hundreds of fine artists, ranging in an
impressive array from McCoy Tyner and Sting to Kathleen
Battle and Diana Krall. However, it is his own recordings –
albums that encompass a diverse canon of original compositions
and imaginatively arranged covers – that reveal the totality of his
musicianship. He currently leads one of the hottest bands in music
- the propulsive Christian McBride Band (saxophonist Ron
Blake, keyboardist Geoffrey Keezer and drummer Terreon
Gully).
The most awe-inspiring thing about Christian McBride is that his prowess as a player is only half of
what makes him such a respected, in-demand and mind-bogglingly busy individual. The portrait is
completed by a mere mid-thirty-something man who carved out time to speak at former President
Clintonʼs town hall meeting on “Racism in the Performing Arts.” He holds Artistic Director posts at the
Jazz Aspen Snowmass summer program and the Dave Brubeck Institute at the University of the
Pacific in Stockton, CA. McBride participated in a Stanford University panel on “Black Performing Arts
in Mainstream America.” Heʼs hosted insightful one-on-one “jazz chats” in Cyberspace on
Sonicnet.com. He also scribed the foreword for pianist Jonny Kingʼs book, What Jazz Is (Walker &
Co., New York).
2005 witnessed his adding two more prestigious appointments to his resume. In January, he was
named co-director of The Jazz Museum in Harlem. While assisting Leonard Garment and Loren
Schoenberg in obtaining government grants and the participation of top flight historians/musicians,
Christian will be focusing on a longtime concern: exposing jazz to young people.
“To a degree, jazz is non-existent in most major urban communities, which deeply saddens me,”
McBride states. “Kids don't understand who our jazz greats were. My contribution towards rectifying
this will be getting them to check out free events at the museum by inviting jazz and non-jazz
musicians, athletes and speakers that they can relate to.”
While working for the museum in Harlem, McBride will be racking up frequent flyer miles as Creative
Chair for the Los Angeles Philharmonic, giving him a degree of influence over commercial and
educational programs at the Hollywood Bowl and Disney Hall. The position is being passed on to him
by singer Dianne Reeves who held it for the last three years.
Naturally, there will be more collaborations and sideman gigs, which he scrutinizes extra carefully now
due to his schedule. Most importantly, he will continue to lead the Christian McBride Band which,
together with special guests, has recorded this live album for ropeadope. This album, ever
revolutionary as only McBride would have it, was compiled from two nights – two shows apiece –