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Jazz Articles about Christian McBride

About Christian McBride

Album Review

Mike Stern: Echoes and Other Songs

Read "Echoes and Other Songs" reviewed by Doug Collette

by Doug Collette
September 13, 2024

With a running time of seventy-seven minutes plus, guitarist Mike Stern's Echoes and Other Songs is effectively a double album. And like most such expansive works--including classics like Bob Dylan's Blonde On Blonde (Columbia, 1966) and The Beatles (aka 'The White Album')(Apple, 1968)--it would benefit from consolidation of its best elements (as would a replacement of the amateurish cover design). Even so, this is still a deceptively ambitious piece of work. Of course, advanced thinking has virtually always ...

Live Review

Jazzkaar 2024

by Martin Longley
August 7, 2024

Jazzkaar Telliskivi Creative City Tallinn, Estonia April 21-28, 2024 Customarily, the almost-always April placement of the Jazzkaar festival is accompanied by a goodly beaming of spring-flavored sunshine, perhaps infected by the odd murky downpour, but soon drying off its feathers. Instead, during 2024's 35th edition, Tallinn's wondrous eight-dayer was forced to accept an incongruous spring-mush of a snowstorm, deeply clinging, sludging around for a few days, chilled to the bones. Somewhat cleverly, ...

Album Review

Christian McBride, Edgar Meyer: But Who's Gonna Play The Melody?

Read "But Who's Gonna Play The Melody?" reviewed by Mike Jurkovic

by Mike Jurkovic
March 12, 2024

It is not known exactly how many duets of this nature have fallen into the lackluster bin of audio history. But rest assured that But Who's Gonna Play The Melody? is as far from that incalculable number as the moon is from the sun. Emblematic of Christian McBride's whole groove credo, everything falls into place quickly, smoothly, and easily on But Who's Gonna Play The Melody?. On the bassist's gazillionth high spirited musical offering, McBride soul-teams with finger-snapping, ...

Album Review

Claudia Acuna: Duo

by Angelo Leonardi
March 12, 2024

Alcuni classici della canzone popolare latina costituiscono il nucleo del sesto disco da leader di Claudia Acuña. In questa celebrazione la cantante cilena ha coinvolto sette protagonisti del jazz contemporaneo in altrettante esecuzioni in duo caratterizzate da palpitante relazione con la loro identità tradizionale. I due brani conclusivi sono cantati in inglese e la vedono piena protagonista: “Cristal Silence" di Chick Corea è cantato a cappella; “YO" è una sua composizione originale eseguita con un sottofondo percussivo. ...

In Pictures

Renewing the Legacy: The Day 2 Musical Odyssey at the Newport Jazz Festival

by Dave Kaufman
October 3, 2023

Day 1 | Day 2 | Part 3 The first day at the Newport showcased a multitude of performers who could be described as “beyond jazz" or “jazz adjacent." Their performances were greeted enthusiastically, and they added a palpable energy and a festive vibe. In the last two days of the festival, the balance shifted somewhat to artists working within the elastic boundaries of the tradition. Kudos to artist director Christian McBride for curating an exceptional roster of ...

Album Review

Miho Hazama M_Unit: Beyond Orbits

Read "Beyond Orbits" reviewed by Angelo Leonardi

by Angelo Leonardi
October 2, 2023

Uno degli eventi al Monterey Jazz Festival del 2021 è stato il concerto dell'M_Unit di Miho Hazama, la giovane compositrice e bandleader giapponese che s'è imposta tra le figure più innovative della sua generazione. In quell'occasione Hazama ha presentato la suite in tre movimenti “Exoplanet" che--incisa poi in studio--costituisce il fulcro del disco appena pubblicato dalla Edition Records. Chi conosce i suoi lavori di questi anni, sa quanto la scrittura della bandleader risulti coinvolgente per l'abilità di ...

Album Review

Nicole Zuraitis: How Love Begins

Read "How Love Begins" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
August 25, 2023

Love is not for the faint of heart. Its tides are unpredictable, bound to different souls, intensifying and ebbing in parallel to the feelings and favors of each individual who exerts their gravitational pull on an evolving romance. Musically charting those waters--depicting the full scope of that sea through song--is no simple feat. Yet some supreme talents, like this one, make it happen and make it look easy. Nicole Zuraitis--a first-rate songwriter, powerhouse vocalist and grade-A pianist--proves to be an ...