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Joe McBride: Lookin' for a Change
by Woodrow Wilkins
There is The Great American Songbook, that vast repertoire of songs culled from musicals, vintage jazz and early rock--songs that have been tapped dozens of times by artists young and old. It gets to the point that whenever the word cover" is mentioned, eyes roll and stomachs begin to turn. So it's a pleasant change of pace when an artist picks songs that aren't on everybody else's radar. Joe McBride takes that approach with Lookin' for Change.McBride, a ...
read moreJoe McBride: Texas Hold'em
by Woodrow Wilkins
If online promotions and televised tournaments are any indication, hold 'em poker has become one of the most popular games in the Western world. Attempting to capitalize on the game's growth, keyboardist Joe McBride brings us Texas Hold'em, a collection of eleven original songs, mostly with titles that represent some aspect of the card game. The music is playful throughout, moving from rhythmic smooth jazz to the light funk of In a Garden of Eden (In-a-Gadda-Da-Vida), a song that's loosely ...
read moreJoe McBride & The Texas Rhythm Club: Keepin' It Real
by Mike Perciaccante
On Keepin It Real, his sixth Head Up release Joe McBride continues to deliver smooth jazz as only he can. McBride, who hails from St. Louis, MO (his uncle is former Cardinals outfielder Bake McBride), soaked up that city's musical brew and folded in the essence and subtleties of his influences, which appear to be funk, gospel, bebop, Motown, and R&B to create his own brand of jazz, a hybrid, if you will. As always, keyboardist McBride cooks his jazz ...
read moreJoe McBride and the Texas Rhythm Club: Keepin' It Real
by Dave Nathan
Staying with the same approach that has made his previous five albums successful, Joe McBride and his band offer a mix of groove, R & B and smooth jazz. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Most of the pieces on the play list come from McBride's compositional pen Unlike most contemporary or smooth jazz releases, some of McBride's music has some character to it. While it allows for virtually no improvisional flights of fancy, it does not lay there ...
read moreJoe McBride: Texas Rhythm Club
by Dave Nathan
Liner notes and other promotional material to the contrary, when it's all said and done (and heard), this is an album of smooth jazz. There's the never changing, unrelenting rhythmic patterns laid down by the drums playing around keyboards and electronic gizmos. Like rock players everywhere, these guys grab a hold of a couple of chords and never let go like on Lone Star Boogie". The result is that matters get very boring, very quickly. Having said that, there are ...
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