Christian McBride Quintet
FRIDAY, APRIL 5 @ 6:00 PM
MILLER CENTER FOR THE ARTS
TICKETS $59
Christian McBride
Born in Philadelphia in 1972, bassist Christian McBride moved to New York to pursue classical bass at the Juilliard School. But he soon found himself on the road with saxophonist Bobby Watson’s band, Horizon, and never looked back.
McBride spent 10 years finding his voice as a jazz musician, performing on hundreds of recording sessions and gigs with top-flight artists. By 2000, he started the Christian McBride Band, which music writer Alan Leeds called “one of the most intoxicating, least predictable bands on the scene today.”
Currently, McBride leads five groups: Inside Straight (with saxman Steve Wilson, vibraphonist Warren Wolf, pianist Peter Martin and drummer Carl Allen); a trio (with pianist Christian Sands and drummer Jerome Jennings); his 18-piece big band; A Christian McBride Situation (an experimental group including turntablists DJ Logic and Jahi Sundance); and the New Jawn (with trumpeter Josh Evans, saxist Marcus Strickland and drummer Nasheet Waits).
The eight-time Grammy winner has released 19 albums, including the latest, “Prime” (1923) by his New Jawn.
McBride’s composition, “The Movement, Revisited” (1998) a suite for big band, four actors and a gospel choir, was dedicated to Rosa Parks, Malcolm X, Muhammad Ali and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., as part of his commitment to education and advocacy. He also works with Jazz House Kids, a community arts organization dedicated to educating children through jazz, founded by his wife, vocalist Melissa Walker.
McBride hosts and produces “The Lowdown: Conversations With Christian” on SiriusXM satellite radio and National Public Radio’s “Jazz Night in America,” a weekly radio collaboration among WBGO, NPR and Jazz at Lincoln Center, highlighting outstanding live jazz.