By K.D. Norris

ken@wktv.org

It is no secret that bassist Christian McBride wears many hats — a good number of photographs have him wearing one. But the “many hats” metaphor applies not only to his headgear but where his head is at, musically.

Over his legendary and GRAMMY filled career, dating back now more than 30 years, McBride has slid his stand-up bass in alongside artists ranging from Chaka Khan to Shanghai Quartet; he has effortlessly excelled in jazz, pop, rock and classical, all with little or no real meaning to labels or genres; and he and his bass, it seems — to morph an old phrase — can lead, follow, but never get out of the way.

McBride’s many music hats, and many musical friends, will be on full display at St. Cecilia Music Center’s three-day WinterFest “jazz festival” Thursday through Saturday, Feb. 24-26.

First, Christian McBride & Friends will offer up a unique pairing with fellow bassist Edgar Meyer for a “double bass extravaganza”, then The Christian McBride Trio takes the stage with special guest jazz singer Cyrille Aimée, and on the final evening, McBride and his award-winning quintet, Inside Straight, will hit the stage.

Tickets for the series, and individual shows, are still available — $123 for the full series, $40 to $55 per single concert — and tickets can be purchased online at scmc-online.org or by calling St. Cecilia Music Center at 616-459-2224. 

Man with many hats

McBride moved to New York in 1989 to pursue classical studies at the Juilliard School, but he was quickly recruited to hit the road with jazz saxophonist (and composer, arranger and educator) Bobby Watson. From there he gained masterclass after masterclass from the who’s who of music until he, himself, became the master.

 

He leads his own bands, starting in 2000 with the formation of what would become his longest-running project, the genre-bending Christian McBride Band, to the 2009 formation of his more “straight-ahead” Inside Straight quintet, to the later Christian McBride Big Band, whose 2012 release The Good Feeling won the GRAMMY for Best Large Ensemble Jazz Album.

He joins other groups, jazz and otherwise, all-star and Young Lion-filled, including the modern who’s who of straight ahead jazz in the legendary 1994 “MoodSwing” quartet of saxophonist Joshua Redman, McBride, pianist Brad Mehldau and drummer Brian Blade — a group that will hit the road again in “A Moodswing Reunion” this spring including a stop in Ann Arbor in April.

Along the way, McBride was named the artistic director of the Newport Jazz Festival, arguably one of the top three jazz festivals in the world; he hosts and produces “The Lowdown: Conversations With Christian” on SiriusXM satellite radio and National Public Radio’s “Jazz Night in America”; and, with his wife, vocalist Melissa Walker, he formed Jazz House Kids, the nationally recognized community arts organization dedicated to educating children through jazz, but developing musical potential, leadership skills, and academic performance.

Oh, ya. And he has made a lot of musical friends.

Three nights; three vibes

McBride’s opening-night friend, GRAMMY winning bassist Edgar Meyer, is both a unique performer and an accomplished composer, and as The New Yorker says, he “is the most remarkable virtuoso in the relatively un-chronicled history of his instrument.”

His musical uniqueness was on full display in 2011 when Meyer joined cellist Yo-Yo Ma, mandolinist Chris Thile, and fiddler Stuart Duncan for the recording The Goat Rodeo Sessions which was awarded the 2012 GRAMMY Award for Best Folk Album.

As a composer, his uniqueness was also on full display as he has collaborated with Béla Fleck and Zakir Hussain to write a triple concerto for double bass, banjo, and tabla, which was commissioned for the opening of the Schermerhorn Symphony Center in Nashville.

The pairing of McBride and Meyer will also, to say the least, be unique.

The next night, McBride’s trio will team with vocalist Cyrille Aimée, who, the story goes, grew up singing at gypsy camps in her native France and on street corners around Europe, graduated to facing audiences at the world’s most prestigious jazz festivals, not the least of which was the Montreux Jazz Festival.

But her singing is only part of her story. As an actress, Aimée co-starred with Bernadette Peters in a Stephen Sondheim tribute at New York’s City Center, which inspired her to dig deeper into Sondheim’s repertoire, resulting in her fourth and most recent album, “Move On: A Sondheim Adventure.”

And then, on the final night of the WinterFest, McBride will be on stage with his Inside Straight cohorts — drummer Carl Allen, saxophonist Steve Wilson, pianist Peter Martin (who replaced the band’s original pianist Eric Reed) and now joined by young vibraphonist Warren Wolf.
 

Inside Straight’s “Christian McBride & Inside Straight Live at the Village Vanguard” is his quintet’s newest recording and, to some, can be thought of as a companion to the GRAMMY Award-winning Christian McBride Trio Live at the Village Vanguard album released in 2015. 

And the rules at St. Cecilia

St. Cecilia currently requires proof of fully vaccinated status, or a negative COVID test taken within 72 hours, to attend a concert at the SCMC venue. Attendees need to bring photo ID and proof of vaccination, or a negative test, the night of a concert. Note: Home tests are not accepted.

All patrons are required to wear a mask for the full duration of their time in the building.
 

If you have tickets to an upcoming performance and are unwilling or unable to abide by this policy, please contact the SCMC box office for a refund at kelly@scmc-online.org a minimum of 48 hours prior to the concert date.

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