Home » Jazz Articles » Christian McBride
Jazz Articles about Christian McBride
Nicole Zuraitis: How Love Begins
by Dan Bilawsky
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 ...
Continue ReadingGeorge Freeman: The Good Life
by Jack Bowers
For guitarist George Freeman, The Good Life has also been a long life. He was a nimble-fingered ninety-five-year-old plectrist when this splendid album was recorded in May and June 2022, which makes it all the more grievous to know it would be organ maestro Joey DeFrancesco's last recording date; he died of a heart attack some three months later at the relatively young age of fifty-one. Freeman leads two trios here, the first with DeFrancesco on organ ...
Continue ReadingChristian McBride’s New Jawn at The Arden Gild Hall
by Cary Tenenbaum
Christian McBride's New Jawn Arden Gild Hall Arden, DE March 30, 2023 Nestled in a residential neighborhood in the little historic town of Arden, Delaware, just outside of Wilmington, is the Arden Club and Gild Hall. The mission of the hall according to its web page is to be “dedicated to the enjoyment of and the participation of the arts." This show was presented by The Arden Concert Gild, which is one of the various ...
Continue ReadingChristian McBride On Leading By Example And 'Living The Life You Believe In'
by Leo Sidran
To say Christian McBride is prolific is both obvious and an understatement. The list of his projects is too long to fit neatly into any one container--he's a musician, an educator, a composer, an artistic director, and a broadcaster. He's an ambassador, a personality, an icon. And of course, he is a bassist. One gets the sense that his days are simply fuller than most people's days. He always seems to be coming from some other event, or ...
Continue ReadingChristian McBride: Prime
by Cary Tenenbaum
Prime's opening track, “Head Bedlam," opens with a cacophony of horns playing in a style reminiscent of Sun Ra's Arkestra. This transforms into a quiet, cool riff with bass and drums leading the way, shifting the music into a more accessible groove before returning to the aptly titled bedlam in the track's closing seconds. It is a brave opening to New Jawn's second release because it is not the easiest way to attract the casual jazz listener. ...
Continue ReadingChristian McBride's New Jawn: Prime
by Mike Jurkovic
"Head Bedlam," crashes from the gate with a gale force which instantly gives away the plot of Prime. Put simply, the sophomore release from maverick bassist Christian McBride's New Jawn (Philadelphia slang for something not yet named or created) is a free-form steeplechase. Crying, screeching, testifying, New Jawn trumpeter Josh Evans and saxophonist & bass clarinetist Marcus Strickland blow wild and loud over drummer Nasheet Waits' tumbling manifesto and McBride's deep-rooted thrumbling, to summon forth the ancestors (Ornette Coleman for starters) to jam ...
Continue ReadingHarry Skoler: Living in Sound - The Music of Charles Mingus
by Angelo Leonardi
Tra i vari tributi alle composizioni di Charles Mingus, pubblicati nell'anno del centenario della nascita, questo di Harry Skoler conferma la plasticità di quei temi, articolati e mutevoli, frutto della sua complessa personalità. L'autore e primo solista di questo progetto è un clarinettista--già allievo di Jimmy Giuffre al New England Conservatory e da anni professore al Berklee College--la cui vita è stata radicalmente influenzata dalla passione per l'opera di Mingus. In collaborazione col sassofonista ...
Continue Reading
