Christian McBride is a jazz bassist and composer, best known for his work with the Christian McBride Trio. He has won 8 Grammy Awards including Best Jazz Instrumental Performance twice in 2003 and 2014.
Christian McBride is a saxophonist and composer. He was born in Detroit, Michigan on November 26th 1962. His father was a jazz musician and his mother was a singer. Christian started playing the saxophone at the age of six and by ten he had already been accepted into the prestigious Berklee College of Music. He has since performed with some of the greatest musicians in history including Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock, Quincy Jones, Chick Corea, Dave Brubeck, Stan Getz, Dizzy Gillespie and many more.
Christian McBride, a Philadelphia native, is one of the finest jazz bassists of his age, with his strong, swinging approach and powerful tone. McBride rose to popularity as a Young Lion in the early 1990s, with elders like as Benny Carter and his lifelong hero and mentor Ray Brown supporting him. He rose to prominence through performing with musicians who shared his interests, including as trumpeter Roy Hargrove, pianist Benny Green, and saxophone Joshua Redman. His first two albums, Gettin’ to It (1994) and Number Two Express (1995), showcased his hard-swinging, acoustic post-bop style. With 1998’s Family Affair and 2000’s Sci-Fi, he rapidly shown his flexibility and wide musical influences, embracing electric fusion, funk, and soul elements. He won six Grammy Awards along the way, including two for his big-band albums, The Good Feeling in 2011 and Bringin’ It in 2017. Along with playing, McBride is a well-known radio personality, having hosted satellite radio’s The Lowdown: Conversations with Christian and National Public Radio’s Jazz Night in America. Artistic Advisor for Jazz Programming at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC), Artistic Director for the Newport Jazz Festival, and Associate Artistic Director for the National Jazz Museum in Harlem have all enlisted his services.
McBride, who was born in Philadelphia in 1972 and grew up in a musical family with a mother who taught school and a father who played bass with R&B bands like the Delfonics and Billy Paul, as well as Cuban drummer Mongo Santamaria, grew up in a musical household. McBride would often accompany his father to concerts, and it was during the Atlantic City Jazz Festival that he witnessed luminaries like as Dizzy Gillespie, Dexter Gordon, and Ella Fitzgerald. The performance left an indelible impression on McBride, who began playing the electric bass at the age of eight after receiving one as a Christmas gift. Despite his parents’ divorce, McBride’s father stayed involved in his musical education and taught him how to play the bass. He grew up listening to funk, jazz, and soul music thanks to his father. He was playing upright bass in the school orchestra and the youth group at Philadelphia’s renowned Settlement Music School by the time he was in his teens. At the age of 13, he performed his first paid performance, and by the age of 16, he was routinely performing in local jazz and R&B bands. Questlove and Black Thought of the Roots, keyboardist Joey DeFrancesco, and guitarist Kurt Rosenwinkel were among his classmates at the Philadelphia High School for the Creative and Performing Arts.
McBride went to Manhattan in 1989 to join the renowned Juilliard School, but left after a year to perform with saxophonist Bobby Watson. Roy Hargrove, Freddie Hubbard, Benny Green, Mulgrew Miller, Joshua Redman, Chris Potter, and others performed at shows and recorded recordings. He also formed the all-star combo Super Bass with Brown and bassist John Clayton, and worked closely with his hero and mentor, bassist Ray Brown. McBride made his solo debut in 1994 with Gettin’ to It on Verve, which he co-wrote with pianist Cyrus Chestnut. A year later, Number Two Express was released, featuring saxophone Kenny Garrett, pianist Chick Corea, and drummer Jack DeJohnette, among others. Herbie Hancock, Wallace Roney, Ryan Kisor, John Pizzarelli, and others all made appearances.
McBride ended the decade with A Family Affair, a song on which he played electric bass and reunited with his R&B origins. Around this time, he started expanding out, accepting jobs as artistic director of the University of Richmond’s summer jazz program and beginning an 11-year tenure as artistic director of the Jazz Aspen-Snowmass summer program. He served as the Los Angeles Philharmonic Association’s artistic chair for jazz programming for five years. McBride continues to explore his love of cross-pollinated fusion and funk with the release of Sci-Fi in the year 2000. It was a sound he carried over to Warner Bros. for Vertical Vision in 2003. He won his first Grammy a year later for his work on pianist McCoy Tyner’s Illuminations. In 2006, he released the three-disc Live at Tonic, which included an even more eclectic blend of genres.
McBride made another label move in 2006, releasing the more straight-ahead New York Time on Chesky, after switching from Verve to Warner in the early 2000s. For the 2007 trio CD Camp Meeting, he teamed up with pianist Bruce Hornsby and drummer Johnette. He reappeared with Kind of Brown, his debut album with his Inside Straight band, two years later. His work to pianist Chick Corea and guitarist John McLaughlin’s Five Peace Band Live earned him his second Grammy Award in 2009.
On Mack Avenue in 2011, the bassist debuted his large band with The Good Feeling. McBride’s wife, vocalist Melissa Walker, sang on the record, which won the Grammy for Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album. In the same year, he released Conversations with Christian, a duets album featuring Angélique Kidjo, Sting, Dee Dee Bridgewater, and others. He then performed My Witch’s Blue with pianist Makoto Ozone and drummer Jeff “Tain” Watts. When People Music came in 2013, the bassist was back in the studio with his Inside Straight band.
Out Here, McBride’s Grammy-nominated trio album with pianist Christian Sands and drummer Ulysses Owens, Jr., was released in 2013. That year, he won a second Grammy for his work on pianist Corea’s Trilogy. McBride kept busy when he wasn’t playing, presenting The Lowdown: Conversations with Christian on satellite radio and Jazz Night in America on NPR. He also continues to serve as the New Jersey Performing Arts Center’s Artistic Advisor for Jazz Programming.
In 2015, the bassist’s trio released Live at the Village Vanguard, which included his Grammy-winning performance of “Cherokee,” which won the prize for Best Improvised Jazz Solo. Returning to his big band for 2017’s Bringin’ It, which earned McBride his sixth Grammy Award for Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album, McBride won his sixth Grammy Award for Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album. Christian McBride’s New Jawn, a piano-less quartet album with trumpeter Josh Evans, tenor saxophonist Marcus Strickland, and percussionist Nasheet Waits, was published in 2018. He collaborated with Chick Corea and Brian Blade on the live Trilogy 2 record a year later, and his New Jawn LP received three Grammy nominations.
McBride’s ambitious large-ensemble piece The Movement Revisited: A Musical Portrait of Four Icons, which celebrates the lives of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, Rosa Parks, and Muhammad Ali, was released in February 2020. With the big-band CD For Jimmy, Wes, and Oliver Nelson, he paid homage to renowned jazz musicians Jimmy Smith, Wes Montgomery, and Oliver Nelson. RoundAgain, a reunion of the saxophonist’s 1990s foursome with pianist Brad Mehldau and drummer Brian Blade, included him as well.
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Christian McBride is a musician who was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He has been playing the bass since he was 16 years old. He also plays on his own album “The Good Feeling”. Reference: christian mcbride facebook.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where did Christian McBride go to college?
A: Christian McBride went to Oberlin College.
Where is Christian McBride from?
A: Christian McBride is a famous drummer and composer. He was born in Great Britain and currently lives there with his family.
What type of jazz does Christian McBride play?
A: Christian McBride is a jazz saxophonist.
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