McBride issues sunny forecast

Christian McBride performs superbly in so many contexts that one can never anticipate what kind of musical quest he’s going to take in any given situation. Even so, there undoubtedly were some surprised listeners in the bassist’s audience at Catalina Bar & Grill on Wednesday night when he opened his set with a lengthy, freely roving selection that seemed to start with Miles Davis’ “Bitches Brew” and soar into the outer limits of collective improvisation.

As the set continued, another distinct reference point began to emerge: the music of the group Weather Report, which seems to be the principal current inspiration for the McBride quartet.

McBride, keyboardist Geoff Keezer, saxophonist-flutist Ron Blake and drummer Terreon Gully have been together for a few years, gradually evolving into a near-symbiotic team, effortlessly anticipating and responding to each other’s every move. Throughout the set, passages evolved and transformed from solo segments into prepared passages, from free improvisations to straight-ahead grooving.

On the final piece, McBride ripped into a tempo fast enough to create finger cramps in many musicians. But Blake, gliding freely on top of the propulsive flow, played with a highflying sense of imaginative liberation. Keezer, scouring sounds from his keyboards, with Gully wrapping the whole thing into an envelope of rhythm.

Good stuff, all of it. Perhaps not the straight-ahead groove that some may have expected, but a stunning evening of cutting-edge music nonetheless. McBride seems finally to have found the breakaway creative path he has been seeking.

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Christian McBride

Where: Catalina Bar & Grill, 1640 N. Cahuenga Blvd., Hollywood

When: Today and Saturday, 8:30 and 10:30 p.m.; Sunday, 7:30 and 9:30 p.m.

Ends: Sunday

Price: $18 to $25, two-drink minimum

Contact: (323) 466-2210