One of my first experiences as a journalist with bassist Christian McBride (www.christianmcbride.com) wasn’t an interview with him, but rather one that partially turned out to be about him for Jazziz magazine in 2002.
Keyboardist/vocalist George Duke (1946-2013) had recently released his 26th studio album, Face the Music (Big Piano Music). Duke’s lengthy solo career had also been preceded by banner work through the 1970s with both Frank Zappa and the Billy Cobham-George Duke Band, co-led by the powerful fusion drummer, and the 1980s and 1990s with bassist Stanley Clarke in the Clarke/Duke Project.
When talk turned to the personnel on Face the Music, including McBride (then in his 20s), the ever-personable Duke verbally beamed. The rising young star’s acoustic upright playing anchored most of the album’s funky fusion of jazz and R&B elements, and his unexpected electric playing — particularly on the lengthy track “Ten Mile Jog” — alternately echoed the fretted thump of Clarke and the fluid fretless work of the late Jaco Pastorius. Most of the world didn’t know then that McBride, the new face of acoustic jazz bass, also played its plugged-in cousin.
“When I told people Christian was on my new album,” Duke said, “most of them asked, ‘Are you doing a jazz standards record?’ I said no, it’s mostly my compositions. And you won’t believe Christian’s occasional electric bass playing, either.”
Twenty-five years after those recording sessions, the 53-year-old McBride remains the versatile face of modern jazz double bass and beyond, having added considerably to his résumé. Virtually no one is surprised by his electric bass prowess now, since it’s become a mere footnote on his laundry list of accomplishments since.
A recent one is his youthful, four-year-old band Ursa Major, which appears at the Arts Garage in Delray Beach on April 25. The quintet features McBride — on both upright and electric basses — with tenor saxophonist Nicole Glover, keyboardist Mike King, guitarist Ely Perlman and drummer Savannah Harris playing mostly original compositions, written collectively, from the group’s forthcoming debut album. Paying it forward the way Duke did for him, McBride says he found the ascending jazz musicians the old-fashioned way.
“They’re four of the hottest young musicians in the entire jazz community,” he says by phone from his home in Montclair, N.J. “There comes a time to turn the stage over to the next generation. Being in one’s mid-50s age bracket is not being in one’s mid-20s. Your goals and responsibilities are not the same, and it becomes time to turn over the platform. I heard about these musicians through word of mouth, seeing and hearing them perform in my travels, and from musicians who I respect recommending them.”
With good reason. Glover moved east from Oregon to study at William Paterson University in New Jersey and is now based in New York City. A faculty member at Princeton University, the Manhattan School of Music, and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, her latest album is the critically acclaimed Strange Lands (Savant, 2021).
King is a Chicago native who graduated from the Oberlin Conservatory and is equally adept at acoustic piano and electric organ; Perlman is a Tel Aviv native who moved to Boston to study at the Berklee College of Music and has a debut album set for imminent release. Harris relocated from Oakland, Calif., to earn her master’s degree in jazz performance from the Manhattan School of Music and has been featured in Modern Drummer magazine as both an artist and contributing writer.
The Philadelphia-born, Juilliard School-educated McBride won his 10th and 11th Grammy Awards in February. The Christian McBride Big Band captured the “Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album” nod for its latest release, Without Further Ado, Vol. 1 (Mack Avenue); his trio recording of “Windows — Live,” with drummer Brian Blade and keyboardist Chick Corea (1941-2021), won for “Best Jazz Performance.”
“I don’t even know where and when ‘Windows — Live’ was recorded with Chick and Brian,” McBride says, “because Chick literally recorded every performance he ever did. There are two boxed sets out from our trio, and they could’ve come from 2010, 2012, 2019 or 2020. It’s overwhelming to figure out where any of the live tracks are from, but my educated guess is that that track came from what turned out to be our final tour in early 2020. Surprisingly, Chick was gone 11 months later. It still sends a zing up my spine when I think about that.”
Another of the ever-active bassist’s recent accomplishments was his Christian McBride’s World at Sea cruise, which sailed from Fort Lauderdale to Jamaica and Grand Cayman and back between Jan. 20 and 27. Featuring guest artists like vocalists Cécile McLorin Salvant, Samara Joy, and Ledisi, pianists Benny Green, Sullivan Fortner and Christian Sands, saxophonist Steve Wilson and drummer Gregory Hutchinson, the sold-out cruise also kept the bassist running — between performances with his big band, Inside Straight, Remembering Ray Brown, and Ursa Major lineups.
“You really couldn’t find Christian during the cruise other than onstage,” says attendee Dr. Barry Schechter, director of cornea and cataract service at Florida Eye Microsurgical Institute in Boynton Beach. “He was so busy preparing for, and playing, four or five shows a day.”
“It’s freaking me out how many people are saying things like that,” says McBride after hearing that quote. “When casual fans are saying that, maybe it’s time to admit you overworked yourself. But it was a blast. We’re looking at doing it again next year.”
As if all that wasn’t enough, McBride’s current slate of endeavors includes hosting two radio programs. Jazz Night in America on NPR is entering its 12th season; The Lowdown: Conversations With Christian on SiriusXM is in its 17th. His artistic direction guides the New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC), the National Jazz Museum in Harlem, N.Y., and the TD James Moody Jazz Festival. He’s also AD for the Jazz Aspen Snowmass Summer Sessions in Colorado, the Montclair Jazz Festival, and Jazz House Kids, the latter two in conjunction with his wife, vocalist and educator Melissa Walker.
“Jazz House Kids produces the Montclair Jazz Festival,” McBride says. “So my wife is the brains behind those outfits, and I’m just the driver.”
How McBride finds time to tour is anyone’s guess, but his recent itinerary includes shows with pianist Brad Mehldau through Germany, France, Belgium and Poland, and a run throughout the United States with both his Inside Straight band and fellow acoustic upright virtuoso Edgar Meyer.
With the sophistication of Duke Ellington and ambassadorship of Wynton Marsalis, McBride is emerging as the new veteran face of jazz in the 21st century. Add his tireless work ethic, and sense of groove inherent in the music of his native Philadelphia (McBride actually started out on electric bass before taking up the acoustic upright), and his primary musical hero comes as less of a surprise.
McBride’s 1995 debut album Gettin’ To It (Verve) featured a title track inspired by “Get It Together,” a hit for pioneering soul and funk vocalist James Brown, who befriended the bassist afterward. Their mutual admiration culminated in the Godfather of Soul agreeing to recreate his 1970 album Soul On Top (King), arranged and conducted in the studio by Oliver Nelson and recorded with drummer Louie Bellson’s 18-piece jazz orchestra, live in 2006 with McBride conducting a big band at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles.
The banner concert even featured a cameo by Bellson, then 81 years old, as McBride realized a lifelong dream by conducting and playing with the iconic vocalist. Talks of future collaborations ensued, but alas, the event would prove bittersweet. Less than four months later, Brown would suddenly fall ill and die at age 73 as the result of congestive heart failure brought on by pneumonia. Brown and McBride appeared on the cover of the March 2007 issue of JazzTimes magazine, with the bassist writing a personal farewell to his hero.
“That was originally supposed to be a feature story about the gig we did together at the Hollywood Bowl,” says McBride. “Sadly, that turned into his memorial instead. But I’m grateful for the memories.”
Another of Brown’s honorary titles was “The Hardest Working Man in Show Business.” For the past 20 years and counting, McBride has taken that baton from his idol. And literally been on the run with it.
If You Go
Christian McBride and Ursa Major perform at the Arts Garage, 94 N.E. 2nd Ave., Delray Beach.
When: 5:30 and 8:30 p.m. April 25
Tickets: $108-$118
Info: 561-450-6357, artsgarage.org