Jazz Articles about Christian McBride

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McCoy Tyner: Quartet

by Jeff Stockton
January 12, 2008

It seems grossly unfair that the debonair, elegant elder statesman on the cover of Quartet, a document of the concerts McCoy Tyner and his band gave on Dec. 30th-31st, 2006 at Yoshi's in Oakland, would still be trying to live up to the reputation for excellence he established with the John Coltrane Quartet some forty-plus years ago. Perhaps tellingly, three of the seven selections come from The Real McCoy, the first solo album Tyner made for Blue Note in 1965. ...

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McCoy Tyner: Quartet

by Mark Corroto
November 11, 2007

From the first few notes you know you're going to love this live recording by McCoy Tyner. With a bass line borrowed from John Coltrane's “A Love Supreme (Impulse!, 1964), the quartet doesn't exactly mimic the Coltrane era as much as take inspiration from its legacy. And of course that legacy included Tyner some forty years ago as he, Elvin Jones and Jimmy Garrison were the rhythm section for the most creative jazz artist ever to advance this music.

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Bruce Hornsby: Camp Meeting

by Troy Collins
September 8, 2007

Camp Meeting, pianist Bruce Hornsby's high profile jazz trio session with heavyweight bassist Christian McBride and iconic drummer Jack DeJohnette, may seem to have materialized out of thin air, but don't you believe them. Hornsby has been gradually building to this statement his whole career.

Last year's retrospective boxed set, Intersections (RCA), revealed the varied interests of a musician who has long charted his own path. As a touring member of the Grateful Dead and regular collaborator with ...

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Bruce Hornsby: Camp Meeting

by Mark F. Turner
August 6, 2007

The funny thing about roots is that you don't know how they really look until you shake loose all of the dirt. Who knew that the “popular music" pianist/songwriter/singer, Bruce Hornsby, was a jazz musician at heart? Many may recall the Grammy Award winning artist from his 1986 platinum hit and album of the same title The Way It Is (RCA), marked by new folk sounds, social consciousness lyrics, and unorthodox yet glowing piano playing. Hornsby has sinced crossed the ...

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Christian McBride: Live at Tonic

by C. Michael Bailey
May 24, 2006

Bassist Christian McBride detonated a funkfest in New York City last year and documented it digitally on Live at Tonic. This three-CD set is filled to the brim with music, each disc clocking in at greater than an hour. The problem is there exists a certain 1970s self indulgence on two of the three discs. But that's okay, because the first disc is a crackerjack, the best funk workout since Miles' Agharta (Columbia, 1975).

The first CD contains ...

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Christian McBride Throws Down

by Chris M. Slawecki
May 23, 2006

Philadelphia native Christian McBride stands among contemporary music's heaviest musicians. That's no reflection of McBride's physical stature, or even of his cavernous speaking voice. It is descriptive of his powerful, profoundly resonant voice on acoustic and electric bass. It almost certainly applies to his formidable body of work, which includes seven albums as a leader and session work with legends inside (Jimmy Smith, McCoy Tyner) and outside (Kathleen Battle, Sting) the world of jazz, all of which seems to have ...

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Christian McBride: Live At Tonic

by David Miller
May 21, 2006

Talk about bringin' da funk. Christian McBride and his ensemble of regular band members and special guests brought their A game to Tonic on January 3 and 4, 2005. McBride, well known for his jazz chops and frequent collaborations with Pat Metheny and Chick Corea (among others), has never been one to shy away from his influences. Live at Tonic, a three-disc collection recorded at the downtown New York nightspot, is at its heart a funk album, at times chugging ...