A Bassist Steps Into Spotlight

What is a bass-playing bandleader to do? Stuck behind an instrument accustomed to taking a supporting role, playing in a largely unobtrusive pitch range, a leader-bassist often has to make concessions to the reality of his potentially unwieldy instrument.

Some simply turn the front-line role over to a pianist. Others embrace more thematic solutions, sometimes bringing in a range of guest artists, often emphasizing a certain style or a specific repertoire. Either way, the reality is that most leader-bassists rarely step as fully into the spotlight with the same panache of other instrumentalists.

Christian McBride is one of the exceptions. The group he is bringing to the Jazz Bakery this week includes Geoffrey Keezer, who was once the pianist in the Ray Brown trio, as well as Ron Blake, a tenor saxophonist whose brashly muscular style would have a hard time fitting into a secondary role, and dynamic drummer Terreon Gully, who is not exactly a shrinking violet.

Nonetheless, McBride, perhaps the most virtuosic bassist to appear on the scene in years, is such a powerful player that he tends to dominate, even within a highly demanding musical environment. In Monday’s opening set, for example, he was impressive in a pair of distinct areas: his basic, straight-ahead jazz rhythm section work on acoustic bass was without a flaw; his electric bass, in contrast, roved from slippery, moving lines to snapping, percussive accents.

In “I’m Coming Home,” he offered a well-crafted bowed solo filled with vocalized sounds, an imaginative sense of melody and occasional whimsical insertions of quotes from other songs. In “Walking on the Moon,” a hit for the group the Police, McBride’s electric bass playing, reminiscent at times of Sting, was also the perfect vehicle for what McBride described as an interpretation of the song intended to underscore its most erotic qualities.

All of this is not to say that the other players made minor contributions. Keezer, an excellent acoustic pianist, worked primarily on electronic keyboards, comfortably manipulating the sounds and textures of his instruments. And Blake’s brawny soloing, occasionally leaping into avant-garde squeals and honks, balanced his envelope-stretching forays with straight-ahead, high-energy drive.

But there was no doubt that the leader--and the star--of this ensemble was McBride, a bassist who has no difficulty taking the spotlight.

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* The Christian McBride Band at the Jazz Bakery, 3233 Helms Ave., Culver City. Tonight and Thursday at 8 and 9:30 p.m. $25 admission. (310) 271-9039.