Christian McBride Big Band - Bringin' It

The Guardian 60

(Mack Avenue)

Christian McBride has been one of the best bassists in jazz since his emergence as a teenage marvel at the end of the 1980s. Nowadays, he adds a deft arranger’s touch, multiple bandleading, and artistic directorship of the Newport jazz festival. McBride’s exciting big band is the perfect festival draw – steeped in old-school swing, Latin jazz, funk and Ray Charlesian soul-blues, bristling with hotshot soloists. The opening Gettin’ to It (the title of his 1994 debut album) is a genial swagger of blues hooks, slyly squealing trumpet-section riffs, and rhythm guitar drive. But after that effusive hello, the leader’s craft and erudition bloom, in the boppishly byzantine arrangement and pounding bass-walk of Freddie Hubbard’s Thermo, the bluesiness of Wes Montgomery’s Full House, and the impressionistic, then anthemic, visit to McCoy Tyner’s Sahara. McBride’s originals are not quite so convincing, and there are a few band-bantering longueurs, but live, this punchy outfit could captivate the traditionalists and jazz hair-shirt wearers, too.