Curt's Jazz Cafe

Okay everyone. I have figured out a way to get me posting more often.

There are a lot of terrific performance clips, EPKs and in this day and age, video clips that jazz artists produce, support of their work. They can often get lost in the glut of YouTube content.

What I will start doing, is posting at least one a day, when there is nothing else that I want to blog about, in long form. Hopefully something will connect with you and cause to seek out an unfamiliar artist, or at least brighten your day, with something from an old friend.

Our first will be from one of the albums on our Best Jazz of 2018 List; bassist Christian McBride’s New Jawn. Though still in his 40’s Mr. McBride has been a major part of the jazz scene for almost 30 years. He has performed and/or recorded with virtually every major figure in the jazz world, since 1989. He has also compiled an impressive array of recordings as a leader; heading groups from duos to big bands. He is also consistently willing to stretch himself and record in aggregations that seek out new ground.

“New Jawn”, is no exception, as it is the first album as a leader (other than his duet album), that McBride has made, without a chordal instrument, such as piano or guitar. Musicians often find this type of group allows a certain amount of freedom, as they are not as bound to conventional chord structures. However, that lack of structure can also be frightening as it can easily expose the limitations of less creative players.

Fortunately, with a world class quartet that includes Nasheet Waits on drums; Marcus Strickland on tenor sax; Joshua Evans on trumpet and McBride on bass, they are on the money, from first note, until the last. As intended, they stretch conventional boundaries to the edge of the avant-garde, but they are anchored just enough to keep the traditional jazz listener interested. It’s a thrilling ride.

I also have to give props to the ultra cool album cover, which appears to be a 21st Century take on the iconic artwork for the classic Wynton Kelly album, It’s All Right!

By the way, “Jawn”, is a term in Philly parlance, for “a person, place or thing”; it can change with the situation. Which makes it appropriate for this group.

The two clips here are live performances of two tracks from the album, “Middle Man” and “Pier One Import”, filmed live in performance, at radio station KNKX in Tacoma, WA. These tracks and others from Christian McBride’s New Jawn, can be heard in regular rotation on CurtJazz Radio click HERE to listen now.

This entry was posted on January 9, 2019 at 10:11 pm and is filed under Best Jazz Albums of 2018, CD Reviews, Video Vault with tags best jazz of 2018, christian mcbride, christian mcbride's new jawn, joshua evans, marcus strickland, nasheet waits, wynton kelly. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.