Christian McBride & Ursa major: Points of Light

Every great hostess knows that who you invite incites the party. And when is there not a party goin' on at a Christian McBride new jawn? Which is what, coincidentally, happens to be  Points of Light, the hot debut of Ursa Major. For the invitees—the midnight intensity of tenor saxophonist Nicole Glover, the perpetual rhythm of drummer Savannah Harris, overactive pianist/keyboardist Mike King , the mod, t-bone blues of guitarist Ely Perlman aided and abetted by keyboardist, producer Terrace Martin and Quintin Gulledge—come spring-loaded and raring to go.

But Glover gets the quiet part in first and thus "Sakura," a dreamy, never dreary revelry unwinds like mid-Seventies Wayne Shorter, and all mankind within earshot is better off for it. The sneaky, bopping, "Two Check" quickly upends the applecart with its keen series of solos that weave together, forming " Cows," Perlman's late-70s, pre-punk, funk-fueled nod to all the heady days we leave behind. Glover swings like a bad-ass while McBride brings that Stanley Clarke / Jaco Pastorius burn to his popping lope. While pianist King has his way on his organ, Harris cuts the way forward into a sure-fire, Perelman flare-up. Upstart prediction markets have "Cows" destined for music stands and studies by novice and elder alike in the not-too-far distant future.

Points of Light is one of those first records one is grateful to have been a small part of. Riding the roll is what makes Harris' dusty, folkloric, "Same Folks" a musing perhaps on the life art of Jack DeJohnette. Cutting like an all-night swing-along, McBride's "Familiar Steps" finds the bassist making like Ray Brown to Perelman's fraying Bill Frisell, locked in on Harris' Lenny White meets Stewart Copeland flexibility.

Slow and, sorry to say, familiar, McBride's pretty but less discussed the better "A Morning Story" is Points of Light's dimmest. "Orquíeda," a King feature that blows the sloth away via an Al Di Meola bossa, lulls us into the whispery beginnings of George Duke's reassuring, pop ballad "No Rhyme, No Reason." All involved in Points of Light play a strong hand in updating Duke's 90s update of his own 70s ways and wraps Points of Light with the finest of endings.