BASS GROOVES
CHRISTIAN MCBRIDE
Christian McBride was born May 31, 1972, in Philadelphia. Having two working bassists in the family proved to be a major influence on him. There was his father, Lee Smith, who played bass for everyone from local Philly Soul superstars like the Delfonics and Billy Paul to Cuban conguero Mongo Santamaria. Then there was his great uncle, Howard Cooper, who played bass with members of the jazz avant garde, including Sun Ra and Khan Jamal. Electric bass was Christian's first instrument, which he began playing at age 9. Two years later, he took on the upright acoustic bass. His initial studies were classical in nature under instructors Margie Keefe, Anne Peterson and Neil Courtney (assistant principal of the Philadelphia Orchestra). Simultaneously, he began getting work with locals such as The Landham Bros., Joe Sudler's Swing Machine and Edgar Bateman - beginning at the impressive age of 13. At 14, McBride was invited by trumpeter Wynton Marsalis to sit in with his group at the Academy Of Music. Marsalis became a big brother figure for McBride, outlining a variety of milestones he should strive to achieve in order to enhance his clearly promising career.
While attending Philadelphia's fertile High School for the Creative and the Performing Arts (C.A.P.A.), McBride found himself in the company of other young talents such as members of what would become the first recognized hip hop BAND, The Roots, vocalists Boyz II Men, organist Joey DeFrancesco, vocalist/songwriter Amel Larrieux, guitarist Kurt Rosenwinkel and singer/songwriter Marc Nelson (now a member of Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds' camp). Upon graduating in 1989, McBride was awarded a partial scholarship to attend The Julliard School of Music in Manhattan. Instead of chilling that summer, he hit the road with the classical/jazz ensemble Free Flight as well as the Philadelphia Youth Orchestra until classes began.
Interestingly, McBride was already so good, so versatile and in-demand, that he never had a chance to settle into his Julliard studies. Within the first semester, he began working New York clubs such as Bradley's and the Village Gate, then toured as a member of saxophonist Bobby Watson's band, Horizon. During this time he also met the late, great Betty Carter who became a strong supporter and mentor. After one year at Julliard, McBride made a decision to leave school and tour with trumpeter Roy Hargrove's first band, electing "experience with as many musicians as possible" as the best teacher. In August of 1990, he landed a coveted position in trumpet veteran Freddie Hubbard's band, touring, recording and, in general, sky-diving with the master until January of 1993. When Hubbard's band was on hiatus, McBride worked in separate bands with the two Bennys: tenor saxman Benny Golson and pianist Benny Green.
Christian McBride was named Rolling Stone magazine's "Hot Jazz Artist" of 1992. The next year, he truly proved it as a member of high profile guitarist Pat Metheny's "Special Quartet" which included drum master Billy Higgins and up-and-coming tenor sax wizard Joshua Redman. While recording and touring with Redman the following year in the "Moodswing" band, McBride was signed to Verve Records in the summer of 1994, recording his first album as a leader, Gettin' To It. The project featured him exclusively on upright bass (bowed and plucked) playing choice covers and plus originals that were tributes to influential favorites, including Cedar Walton ("The Shade of the Cedar Tree") and Christian's ace #1 idol, Mr. Dynamite himself, James Brown (the title track). His band included Redman, Hargrove, pianist Cyrus Chestnut and drummer Lewis Nash. Plus, there was one special tune, Neil Hefti's "Splanky," that featured Christian in a three-way bass-off with Milt Hinton and Ray Brown.
Kudos of other sorts were soon forthcoming. Philadelphia's Mellon Jazz Festival of 1994 was dedicated to McBride (along with Lee Morgan, posthumously). And he received a commission from Jazz at Lincoln Center to compose Bluesin' in Alphabet City, a full-scale work performed by Wynton Marsalis with the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra featuring McBride as a special guest. He then toured and recorded in an all-star band with piano great Chick Corea, who in turn was one of seven very special guests on McBride's 1996 sophomore album, Number Two Express (with saxophonists Kenny Garrett and Gary Bartz, drummer Jack DeJohnette, pianist Kenny Barron, percussionist Mino Cinelu and vibraphonist Steve Nelson). This album included covers of Wayne Shorter's "Miyako" (a lovely, arco-rendered duet with Barron), Ornette Coleman's "Jayne," and one song with Christian playing fretless electric bass ("A Morning Story") that was a hint at things to come. During this time, McBride also finally befriended James Brown, trying to coax him into doing a co-op album (still on the drawing board) and co-producing a yet-to-be-reissued CD of JB's jazz-tinged Lp, Soul on Top (King Records - 1969), which was recorded with Louis Bellson's Big Band (featuring Ray Brown).
McBride's third Verve album, A Family Affair (1998), reflected his rediscovery of music from his childhood. Produced by keyboardist and funk-jazz fusion pioneer George Duke, the album found him recording brilliant jazz arrangements of soul classics such as the Stevie Wonder's "Summer Soft," Earth, Wind & Fire's "I'll Write A Song For You," Kool & The Gang's "Open Sesame," the Spinners' "I'm Coming Home," and the Sly & The Family Stone smash, "Family Affair," from which the project gleaned its title. The album also showcased McBride's first attempts as a lyricist on two songs, "A Dream of You" (sung by soul crooner Will Downing) and the cold-blooded "...Or So You Thought" (sung by the vivacious Vesta). The project challenged many of Christian's staunch straight-ahead jazz fans by his choice of material and because he played electric bass on half of the ten songs. Among its most impressive pieces is the expansive instrumental original, "Wayne's World," a tribute to the composing spirit of Wayne Shorter with whom McBride shared the stage at Lincoln Center that same year in a stunning tribute concert.
With passages moving from meditatively
spacious to fierce levels of density, "Wayne's World" also pointed
the way to his latest album, Sci-Fi, the first to be billed as by the
Christian McBride Band (tenor/soprano saxophonist Ron Blake, keyboardist
Shedrick Mitchell and drummer Rodney Green). This project features beautiful
evocations of songs such as Sting's "Walking On The Moon," Stanley
Clarke's "Butterfly Dreams" and Steely Dan's "Aja"
alongside quirky new McBride originals like "Xerxes" (pronounced
zerk-sees), "Uhura's Moment Returned" (named after the black, female
character from the original Star Trek tv series, and inspired by a combination
of that show's memorable theme song and Oliver Nelson's jazz classic
"Stolen Moments"), "I Guess I'll Have To Forget"
(featuring Toots Thielemans on harmonica), "Via Mwandishi" (a
tribute to Herbie Hancock's Afrocentric, ancient/future septet from the late
'60s/early '70s) and "Lullaby For A Ladybug" (featuring Hancock and
singer Dianne Reeves, who gave the song its vivid title).
In addition to his four Verve solo albums, McBride recorded a trio record with
trumpeter Nicholas Payton and guitarist Mark Whitfield entitled Fingerpainting:
The Music of Herbie Hancock. He is also a member of the trio, Superbass, with
Ray Brown and John Clayton. McBride has graced the big screen playing his bass
in director Robert Altman's 1940's period piece, Kansas City (1996), as well
as its two soundtracks. Over the last decade, McBride's bass has been featured
on well over one hundred recordings with artists as diverse as David Sanborn,
Kathleen Battle, Diana Krall, Michael Franks, Bobby Hutcherson, nouveu soul
superstar D'Angelo, Chick Corea, George Benson, Jimmy Smith, Lee Ritenour,
McCoy Tyner, Milt Jackson, and the late, great Betty Carter.
Not content to only play music, McBride continues to challenge himself in academic arenas. He is now Professor McBride, having completed a six-week residency at the Berklee School of Music giving master classes, as well as a visiting instructor for the California-based Henry Mancini Institute. As a speaker, he participated on a panel for President Clinton's town hall meeting on "Racism in the Performing Arts" with Garth Fagan and George Takei. McBride has also spoken on a Stanford University panel regarding "The Influence of Black Performing Arts on Mainstrem America." He has also taken the plunge into cyberspace by hosting a weekly "Jazz Chat" series of one-on-one interviews for SonicNet.com. He has written the forward for a book by Jonny King called What Jazz Is (Walker & Co. - New York). The NEA commissioned him to compose The Movement Revisited (for quartet and gospel choir).
Finally, most recently, Christian McBride earned the honor of being named Artistic Director of the JAS/Thelonious Monk Institute Jazz Colony summer program.
