Christian McBride & Inside Straight - People Music - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

2016 Grammy® Winner for Best Improvised Jazz Solo on Cherokee. This record is the fruit of McBride's long association with the Vanguard, where his first appearance as a leader for the historic club was in 1995. In 2007, the bassist and charismatic club owner Lorraine Gordon started an annual one-week residency, which featured McBride's quintet, Inside Straight. InchLorraine enjoyed my trio and my quintet, Inside Straight. We had such large crowds, so after a few years with such supportive audiences, we added an extra week. Instead of doing the same band for two weeks, I just started bringing in a different band. This has been an ongoing relationship that I look forward to maintaining as long as I can.Inch

Christian McBride is a loquacious raconteur in addition to his finger-busting bass skills, though make no mistake about it the only talk on this is the musical kind two instruments make. Christian can converse with the best of them, as his Sirius/XM show will attest though these conversations sit him down in the studio with a diverse array of guests for unexpected and often amazing results. The resulting duets lay bare skill and emotion in the visceral tradition of real jazz improvisation. Angelique Kidjo, George Duke, Sting, Eddie Palmieri, Chick Corea and Roy Hargrove - along with the late masters Hank Jones and Dr. Billy Taylor - are among the guests.

Christian McBride's New Jawn - trumpeter Josh Evans (Jackie McLean, Cedar Walton, Rasheid Ali), saxophonist and bass clarinetist Marcus Strickland (Roy Haynes, Jeff InchTainInch Watts, Chris Dave, Bilal, Robert Glasper), and drummer Nasheet Waits (Jason Moran, Joe Lovano, John Medeski) - is back with their highly anticipated sophomore album, Prime, the follow-up from McBride's GRAMMY nominated Philly-centric named group. Featuring original compositions from each band member as well as fresh takes on songs from Sonny Rollins, Ornette Coleman and Larry Young, this group offers an exhilarating space of exploration for the 8-time GRAMMY Award-winning McBride to stretch his veteran wings.