Roar of the Bass From Another Young Lion

Christian McBride, the new oracle of jazz bass, is performing with an astounding ease and swagger. He smiles over at pianist Benny Green as the two perfectly synchronize a melody line for bass and piano, gently swinging over a steady rhythm. On the bandstand, McBride seems peaceful. He beams from behind his upright bass; it’s where he feels most comfortable expressing himself, where his self-confidence is rooted and his ability to communicate is at its peak.

And in his case everyone is noticing. In a hurry. He has been signed to a long-term exclusive recording deal by one of the preeminent record labels in jazz, Verve. He’s being honored Sunday by the Mellon Jazz Festival in his hometown of Philadelphia. He is the bassist in two of the hottest bands in jazz--the Joshua Redman Quartet and the Benny Green Trio--and can be heard on five jazz albums released this year alone.

The demand for his services is so great that his manager can tell you exactly where he’ll be every day from now through the end of the year. On Saturday, for instance, he’ll be at the Hollywood Bowl, appearing with Redman at the Playboy Jazz Festival.

Out of this year’s new crop of young lions, Christian McBride--at 22--is being heralded as the one musician who has the goods to move jazz into the 21st Century with freshness, integrity and innovation.

So far he has responded gracefully to the acclaim, which has occurred after just a handful of years in the business. But there is also part of him that wants nothing to do with the hype, gala concerts and worldwide tours.

As he heads into a rigorous summer of tours and recording sessions, he seems to feel the need for time to better prepare himself.

“I’m getting bored with myself and I’m getting really, really critical (of my playing),” he says. “I’m trying to unlock a chain in my brain. (To expand professionally) I just need an artistic spark. You can’t force it on yourself.

”. . . If I listen to as many records as possible, I’ll learn more music--that will give me a larger vocabulary. I’ve been trying my best to listen to records but I’ve been so busy that I haven’t been able to. I need a month off--do nothing but listen and practice. Really sit down and woodshed. It would satisfy me personally. I need some time to not burn out.”

In several conversations over the last few months, McBride takes his time answering questions and often laughs. He talks at length about the compositional greatness of Duke Ellington and Wayne Shorter, rattling off album credits as if he spent his life reading liner notes. He works hard at being concise in his comments, yet it’s obvious at times he hasn’t had enough time to let sink in everything he has achieved.

He has been achieving since the age of 17, when he made his recording debut on Wallace Roney’s “Obsession.” A quick listen to his recorded output reveals he is truly comfortable in the recording studio. On Joe Lovano’s new disc, “Tenor Legacy,” McBride emphasizes a relaxed and swinging groove; on Joe Henderson’s Grammy-winning “Lush Life,” he provides exquisite support in a duet, walking his instrument sprightly around the saxophonist’s radiant solo, and gets aggressively tough on the rest of the selections; in his three recordings with Benny Green, the interplay is telepathic--McBride and Green overlap on solos and alternate supporting each other’s explorations, always retaining coherence and elan.

He explains his role: “All I try to do is contribute what they want and a little more--if that’s all right with them. I don’t want to go in and just play notes.”

Musicians view McBride’s strengths from several standpoints: Green praises his knowledge of jazz history; trumpeter Freddie Hubbard lauds his ability to write and play the piano; pianist Billy Taylor was impressed by McBride’s willingness to study the music before a session and enter the studio with ideas. “You don’t see that from many musicians--young or old,” says Taylor, 72, who used McBride on his new recording for GRP.

“Seldom do you find someone with a great melodic sense like Christian--and for such a young cat he sounds like himself,” says Hubbard, the first artist to provide McBride with a full-time gig. “I’ve played with (bassists) Ron Carter, Paul Chambers, Reggie Workman. He’s got a jump on them all--to know as much as he does at such an early age. There’s no limit to what he can do--no reason why he shouldn’t be a major musician.”

The “sound” of McBride that Hubbard describes is big and muscular--a throwback to the classic jazz bass sound of the ‘40s and ‘50s that started with Jimmy Blanton in Duke Ellington’s band and progressed through the hands of Oscar Pettiford, Ray Brown (Chambers and McBride’s personal favorite) and Ron Carter.

But it was the work of Chambers that may have had the biggest impact on McBride. It was just a decade ago that McBride’s great-uncle gave his nephew “piles of jazz records” to listen to and study. McBride, who was just 10, had dedicated two years to learning the bass. Included in that pile was Miles Davis’ “So What,” with the strong opening bassline by Chambers. It was the tune that McBride says made him stick with the upright bass and jazz.

It didn’t matter that McBride was forsaking playground games and sports to stay indoors to study the instrument. “Playing the bass was so much fun that there was nothing else that was that much fun--other than street football,” says McBride, who does have the physical build of a small fullback. “It felt so natural to me that there was never a question of what I wanted to do. I’d run home every day from school and play the bass.”

And as he studied classical music and tried other instruments at Philadelphia High School for the Creative and Performing Arts, nothing else came remotely close to the rewards the bass offered.

“I think it was a message from above that told me to play the bass. I can’t play the drums well enough to say anything on them and I can’t play the piano well enough to say anything there. It always felt so natural that it must be a message from God. I believe that’s what I was meant to do. There are no specific answers. Other than imitating James Brown, nothing comes that naturally to me--except eating.”

At 16, McBride moved to New York to study at Juilliard but left the school--and classical music--after a year. Three months after his 17th birthday, he made his recording debut on Roney’s “Obsession” album.

After a number of sessions, McBride joined Hubbard’s band, where he met Green. They have since recorded four albums and continue their partnership--the trio performs Aug. 7 at the Pasadena Jazz Festival--as it offers McBride an opportunity to both lead and support.

“Without question,” says Green, “Christian’s musical character is a vital part of the musical palette. In composing and arranging, the trio is centered on his sound, his concepts and his pulse. The things he plays behind me feel perfect.

“The energy he emits,” Green adds, “I liken to a child’s drawing of a house and yard. And the sky is a blue line and the sun is in the corner with the beams coming out of it up in the right-hand corner. Christian is the sun. He makes things feel better.”