Tag Archives: Christian McBride

Christian McBride shows off versatility, friends with St. Cecilia WinterFest Jazz Series

Entertainment, Local Entertainment, Reviews, Upcoming Events, WKTV Projects, , ,
One of Christian McBride’s many musical “hats”, rejoining “A Moodswing Reunion” for a new release and a 2022 tour with, from left, drummer Brian Blade, McBride, saxophonist Joshua Redman, and pianist Brad Mehldau. (Nonsuch Records)

By K.D. Norris

ken@wktv.org

It is no secret that bassist Christian McBride wears many hats — a good number of photographs have him wearing one. But the “many hats” metaphor applies not only to his headgear but where his head is at, musically.

Over his legendary and GRAMMY filled career, dating back now more than 30 years, McBride has slid his stand-up bass in alongside artists ranging from Chaka Khan to Shanghai Quartet; he has effortlessly excelled in jazz, pop, rock and classical, all with little or no real meaning to labels or genres; and he and his bass, it seems — to morph an old phrase — can lead, follow, but never get out of the way.

Christian McBride, from a 2008 concert, is no stranger to St. Cecilia Music Center. (St. Cecilia Music Center)



McBride’s many music hats, and many musical friends, will be on full display at St. Cecilia Music Center’s three-day WinterFest “jazz festival” Thursday through Saturday, Feb. 24-26.



First, Christian McBride & Friends will offer up a unique pairing with fellow bassist Edgar Meyer for a “double bass extravaganza”, then The Christian McBride Trio takes the stage with special guest jazz singer Cyrille Aimée, and on the final evening, McBride and his award-winning quintet, Inside Straight, will hit the stage.

Tickets for the series, and individual shows, are still available — $123 for the full series, $40 to $55 per single concert — and tickets can be purchased online at scmc-online.org or by calling St. Cecilia Music Center at 616-459-2224. 

Man with many hats

McBride moved to New York in 1989 to pursue classical studies at the Juilliard School, but he was quickly recruited to hit the road with jazz saxophonist (and composer, arranger and educator) Bobby Watson. From there he gained masterclass after masterclass from the who’s who of music until he, himself, became the master.

 

Christian McBride. (Artist’s Facebook Page)

He leads his own bands, starting in 2000 with the formation of what would become his longest-running project, the genre-bending Christian McBride Band, to the 2009 formation of his more “straight-ahead” Inside Straight quintet, to the later Christian McBride Big Band, whose 2012 release The Good Feeling won the GRAMMY for Best Large Ensemble Jazz Album.

He joins other groups, jazz and otherwise, all-star and Young Lion-filled, including the modern who’s who of straight ahead jazz in the legendary 1994 “MoodSwing” quartet of saxophonist Joshua Redman, McBride, pianist Brad Mehldau and drummer Brian Blade — a group that will hit the road again in “A Moodswing Reunion” this spring including a stop in Ann Arbor in April.

Along the way, McBride was named the artistic director of the Newport Jazz Festival, arguably one of the top three jazz festivals in the world; he hosts and produces “The Lowdown: Conversations With Christian” on SiriusXM satellite radio and National Public Radio’s “Jazz Night in America”; and, with his wife, vocalist Melissa Walker, he formed Jazz House Kids, the nationally recognized community arts organization dedicated to educating children through jazz, but developing musical potential, leadership skills, and academic performance.

Oh, ya. And he has made a lot of musical friends.

Three nights; three vibes

McBride’s opening-night friend, GRAMMY winning bassist Edgar Meyer, is both a unique performer and an accomplished composer, and as The New Yorker says, he “is the most remarkable virtuoso in the relatively un-chronicled history of his instrument.”

Edgar Meyer. (Supplied photo by Jim McGuire)

His musical uniqueness was on full display in 2011 when Meyer joined cellist Yo-Yo Ma, mandolinist Chris Thile, and fiddler Stuart Duncan for the recording The Goat Rodeo Sessions which was awarded the 2012 GRAMMY Award for Best Folk Album.

As a composer, his uniqueness was also on full display as he has collaborated with Béla Fleck and Zakir Hussain to write a triple concerto for double bass, banjo, and tabla, which was commissioned for the opening of the Schermerhorn Symphony Center in Nashville.

The pairing of McBride and Meyer will also, to say the least, be unique.

Cyrille Aimée. (Supplied)

The next night, McBride’s trio will team with vocalist Cyrille Aimée, who, the story goes, grew up singing at gypsy camps in her native France and on street corners around Europe, graduated to facing audiences at the world’s most prestigious jazz festivals, not the least of which was the Montreux Jazz Festival.

But her singing is only part of her story. As an actress, Aimée co-starred with Bernadette Peters in a Stephen Sondheim tribute at New York’s City Center, which inspired her to dig deeper into Sondheim’s repertoire, resulting in her fourth and most recent album, “Move On: A Sondheim Adventure.”

And then, on the final night of the WinterFest, McBride will be on stage with his Inside Straight cohorts — drummer Carl Allen, saxophonist Steve Wilson, pianist Peter Martin (who replaced the band’s original pianist Eric Reed) and now joined by young vibraphonist Warren Wolf.
 

Inside Straight’s “Christian McBride & Inside Straight Live at the Village Vanguard” is his quintet’s newest recording and, to some, can be thought of as a companion to the GRAMMY Award-winning Christian McBride Trio Live at the Village Vanguard album released in 2015. 

And the rules at St. Cecilia

St. Cecilia currently requires proof of fully vaccinated status, or a negative COVID test taken within 72 hours, to attend a concert at the SCMC venue. Attendees need to bring photo ID and proof of vaccination, or a negative test, the night of a concert. Note: Home tests are not accepted.

All patrons are required to wear a mask for the full duration of their time in the building.
 

If you have tickets to an upcoming performance and are unwilling or unable to abide by this policy, please contact the SCMC box office for a refund at kelly@scmc-online.org a minimum of 48 hours prior to the concert date.

St. Cecilia’s early 2021 plans change as cancellations, virtual concerts announced

Entertainment, Local Entertainment, , ,
Christian McBride, from a 2008 concert, is no stranger to St. Cecilia Music Center. But his planned Winterfest with Christian McBride series will need to await a year. (St. Cecilia Music Center)

By K.D. Norris

ken@wktv.org

Not unexpectedly, St. Cecilia Music Center announced this week the cancellation of its originally scheduled January through March 2021 live concerts. But, continuing to not be silent in this winter of pandemic, the center also announced a series of virtual concerts running January through April.

The initially bad, but ultimately good, news includes jazz star Christian McBride laying down a base line — his much-anticipated “Winterfest with Christian McBride” series, originally scheduled Feb. 25–27, has been cancelled. But added to St. Cecilia’s virtual offerings is Christian McBride & Edgar Meyer — two superior bassists with different backgrounds but speak the same musical language — on Feb. 25, with a $15 per ticket program.

Among the other cancelled live in-person concerts cancelled are Joshua Redmond (Jan. 21), Shawn Colvin (Jan. 22), the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center’s “Magical Schubert” presentation (Jan. 28), Leo Kottke (Feb. 18); Kat Edmonson (March 4) and Rodney Crowell (March 18).

“St. Cecilia Music Center is committed to our audience in helping to ‘Keep Music Alive’ in West Michigan,” Cathy Holbrook, St. Cecilia executive and artistic director, said in supplied material. “While we are still unable to gather audiences in person at this time due to COVID-19, we remain committed to bringing our patrons great music into the safety of their own home.”

Other virtual concerts announced this week include three by the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center (CMS) — “The Brandenburg Concertos” (Jan. 7), “Mendelson, Liszt & Field” featuring pianist Gloria Chien (Feb. 11), “Schumann, Shostakovich & More” featuring violist Paul Neubauer (March 18), and “CMS Brahms & Dvorák” featuring violinist Ani Kavafian (April 1).

All CMS virtual concerts are free to view on the St. Cecilia website beginning the date they first air and for seven days after.

The SCMC folk series virtual concerts include Mariza Sings Amália (Jan. 29) and Judy Collins (Feb. 12), each with $40 tickets allowing viewing for 48 hours. Kat Edmonson (March 4) will be free to view on St. Cecilia Facebook page and YouTube channel.

For tickets and more about virtual concerts offered by St. Cecilia for home viewing, see scmc-online.org/virtual/.

More about those cancelled concerts

The St. Cecilia announcement notes that “many of these (canceled show) artists who were to appear in person have now been rescheduled for St. Cecilia Music Center’s 2021-2022 Presenting Series” and that the 2012-22 season will be announced in late spring 2021.

       

All ticket holders for the cancelled concerts will receive individual emails to opt for a full refund, gift cards for future concerts, or making a tax-deductible donation.

For additional questions about cancelled concert tickets, contact Kelly Herremans, St. Cecilia box office manager, at Kelly@scmc-online.org.

About the McBride & Meyer, and Ms. Edmonson

The six-time GRAMMY-winning jazz bassist McBride is so much more than just a “jazz bassist” — with a career now into its third decade, the Philadelphia native has become one of the most requested, most recorded, and most respected figures in the music world today. His work goes from jazz to soul to pop/rock to classical, including working with Kathleen Battle, Shanghai Quartet … and Edgar Meyer.

Meyer is in demand as both a performer and a composer, and has been hailed by The New Yorker as “…the most remarkable virtuoso in the relatively un-chronicled history of his instrument.” One of his most recent compositions is the Double Concerto for Double Bass and Violin, which received its world premiere July 2012 with Joshua Bell at the Tanglewood Music Festival with the Boston Symphony Orchestra. He has also collaborated with Béla Fleck and Zakir Hussain to write a triple concerto for double bass, banjo, and tabla, which was commissioned for the opening of the Schermerhorn Symphony Center in Nashville.

Edmonson, known for her vintage pop and jazz with a Texas touch, began crafting her signature sound while performing in Austin’s local club circuit for years before releasing her debut LP “Take To The Sky” in 2009. She has toured with Lyle Lovett, Chris Isaak, Gary Clark Jr., Shawn Colvin, Willie Nelson, Smokey Robinson, Nick Lowe and more. She recently released “Dreamers Do”, an album that “blends original compositions and reimagined mid-20th century classic Disney songs to tell a story which takes place over the course of one sleepless night.”

Review: McBride and his youthful cohorts satisfy, surprise in St. Cecilia return

Entertainment, Reviews, , ,

By K.D. Norris

ken@wktv.org 

Christian McBride Trio, Nov. 16, at St. Cecilia Music Center, Grand Rapids, Mi.

 

60-second Review

 

Christian McBride (Supplied)

If you came to St. Cecilia’s Royce Auditorium Thursday night expecting a typical jazz trio, with bassist extraordinaire Christian McBride leading the standard group through the standard repertoire and his taking the lion’s share of lead in the standard solos, you were both beautifully satisfied and, yet, a little blissfully surprised.

 

McBride — a multiple Grammy-winning jazz man at heart but willing and able to play where the spirit moves him — is famous for his ability to slide into any musical genre where a bass of any form is at home, as he is for not only sharing the stage with young, talented musicians but showcasing them.

 

So it was McBride being McBride in his return gig at St. Cecilia when, along with young pianist Emmet Cohen and equally young guitarist Dan Wilson, he invited the audience to explore with him in a nine-song, roughly 90-minute musical conversation that ranged from the classics (“I’m Afraid the Masquerade is Over” and Duke’s “Sophisticated Lady”) to 1980s pop (Stevie Wonder’s “Overjoyed”).

 

My favorite conversations of the night — jazz songs really are a conversation among players who speak the improvisational “language of jazz” — were two tunes written by Cohen: “Three of Us” and “You Already Know”. I think that’s their titles; they are new and announced from the stage!

 

(The “language of jazz”, as an aside, is a term taught to me by no-less an authority than Ellis Marsalis Jr. — father of the Marsalis jazz family — when I interviewed him a decade ago and asked a dumb question about playing a new tune with musicians for the first time and he gently gave a reporter a brief jazz masterclass.)

 

Whether it was McBride fighting off a blister on a finger, as it appeared, or just his feeling like showcasing the very talented Cohen, the bassist gave the pianist not only got his fair share of  solos but the majority of the spotlight. The addition of Cohen’s second composition, in fact, was an admittedly unrehearsed decision which was musical proof of trio’s ability to speak the “language of jazz”.

 

McBride — blister, or whatever, and all — and Cohen were uniformly good in their fluid solos and able accompanying efforts, but Wilson’s guitar may have been the most unique part of the show — while his solos were tight and, often, experimental, his work as an accompanist gave the trio a rarely heard sonic landscape.

 

May I have more, please?

 

These days, an electric (or at least amplified) guitar is completely at home in the jazz genre — has been from the time of the classic Wes Montgomery (and anybody else you care to name), to the more modern George Benson and Russel Malone (and anybody else …), to the youthful Gilad Hekselman (and …)

 

But it wasn’t always so.

 

Jazz historians, an often argumentative lot they are, will often point to Charlie Christian as the groundbreaker for bringing the electric guitar to the jazz stage. In his short life — 1916-1942, a life cut short by tuberculosis in the years before any cure or even real treatment were known — Christian was a key figure in the popularity of swing jazz, the early development of bebop and, some argue, even the infancy of cool jazz.

 

His teaming of the guitar with amplification pushed the instrument out of the rhythm section of big bands and front stage as a solo jazz instrument. His day-job swing-jazz work with the Benny Goodman Sextet and his late night bebop sets in Harlem in the years before his death made him a legend among guitarists of all ilk — so much so that in 1990 he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as an “early influence”.

 

Whatever. The man could, like McBride, speak the language of jazz.

 

McBride’s visit was the beginning of St. Cecilia’s annual jazz series, which will include the Brad Mehldau Trio on Nov. 30, and singers Gregory Porter on Feb. 22, 2018, and Kurt Elling on March 22, 2018. For  information on tickets and more information visit SCMC-online.org.

 

St. Cecilia jazz series opens with Grammy favorite bassist Christian McBride

Entertainment, Local Entertainment,

 

By K.D. Norris

ken@wktv.org

 

Saying bassist Christian McBride is the new millennium’s baseline of jazz music might be laying it on a little thick, but he certainly is a favorite of the Grammy awards and of St. Cecilia Music Center, where his unique trio will be on stage next week.

 

McBride — with five Grammy wins since 2004, and a pairing of piano and guitar with him — will make an encore visit to St. Cecilia’s Royce Auditorium stage on Thursday, Nov. 16, for a 7:30 p.m. concert. Tickets are still available.

 

“We are lucky to have him here,” Cathy Holbrook, executive director of St. Cecilia, said in supplied material, pointing out McBride’s current trio tour includes just five cities: New York City, Newark, Chicago, Denton (part of the Dallas-Ft. Worth metropolitan area) … and Grand Rapids.

 

McBride’s “McBride’s Tip City” tour will have him accompanied by pianist Emmet Cohen and guitarist Dan Wilson.

 

McBride’s visit is the beginning of St. Cecilia’s annual jazz series, which will include the Brad Mehldau Trio on Nov. 30, and singers Gregory Porter on Feb. 22, 2018, and Kurt Elling on March 22, 2018.

 

“This is going to be a jazz series for the record books,” Holbrook said about St. Cecilia’s “encore” series. “We are bringing back some of our favorites from the first ten years of the series. (And) the excitement begins with Christian McBride, one of today’s most enjoyable entertainers and outstanding jazz performers of our time.”

 

That “outstanding” part?

 

McBride has eight Grammy nominations, and five wins four since 2009 including the 2015 Best Improvised Jazz Solo for “Cherokee”.

 

Now in his third decade of playing and recording, the one-time “young lion” and Philadelphia native is one of the most respected, and sought after, players in music — and not just in traditional jazz. And the reason is clear by hearing one of his stories.

 

“When you pull the people in, you can go anywhere as long as they feel like they’re a part of the ride,” McBride said in supplied information. “ That’s why Cannonball Adderley was always my hero — he always exemplified high artistry, but no matter how esoteric or abstract it could get, he still related to people.”

 

McBride not only leads his own bands but he has shared the stage with jazz legends such as Sonny Rollins, Chick Corea, Herbie Hancock and Pat Metheny; he has accompanied pop music heavyweights such as James Brown, Sting and The Roots; he has collaborated with classical masters such as Kathleen Battle, Edgar Meyer and the Shanghai Quartet.

 

In addition to his live and recording musical efforts, McBride currently hosts and produces “The Lowdown: Conversations With Christian McBride” on SiriusXM satellite radio and National Public Radio’s “Jazz Night in America” — can you say “Stories to tell?”

 

McBride will come to Grand Rapids, according to supplied information, following a performance with Dianne Reeves and a celebration of the 100th birthdays of Ella Fitzgerald and Dizzy Gillespie with Gregory Porter and Regina Carter — can you say “More stories to tell?”

 

You know, maybe that “baseline of modern jazz” is not too far off.

 

For tickets and more information visit SCMC-online.org. There will also be a pre-concert reception available for an additional price, and a free post-concert party available to ticket holders when the artists routinely visit for talk and CD signing.