What is jazz?
Funny thing you should ask – Christian McBride's 'miniature Lollapalooza' at House of Blues should have the answer
By George Varga
UNION-TRIBUNE POP MUSIC CRITIC
April 13, 2006
It's unusual to hear a Grammy Award-wining jazz artist talk about wanting to emulate Lollapalooza in any way. But Christian McBride isn't your usual jazz artist, as befits a virtuoso bassist who counts Roots drummer Ahmir “?uestlove” Thompson, Chaka Khan, Sting and opera star Kathleen Battle among his many collaborators.
Bass virtuoso Christian McBride is now on tour to promote his forthcoming triple album, "Live at Tonic." This eclectic Philadelphia native is headlining the ongoing “What Is Jazz?” tour, which stops in San Diego tonight at the House of Blues. The marathon show will feature individual performances by DJ Logic, drum marvel Bobby Previte and bands led by guitarist Charlie Hunter and McBride. There will also be more than a little spontaneous interaction, in the classic jam session tradition, although a better reference point for rock fans would be the annual Bonaroo festival than the vintage “Jazz at the Philharmonic” all-star tours of half a century ago.
“I would call it something like a miniature Lollapalooza, because we won't all be playing in just one band with guest soloists, like they did for 'Jazz at the Philharmonic,'” McBride, 33, said from a recent tour stop in Chicago. “I certainly know that Charlie will do his own set and I'll do my own. And I think Bobby will play with Charlie, too, as well as with DJ Logic.
“I've never done anything like this before, and part of me is quite nervous. But we're going to play some real memorable music. I find that the bands – jazz and otherwise – who maintain their fan base are the ones who consistently give their fans something they wont forget.
“And that's the approach I take, which is what Art Blakey did in jazz and what James Brown and the Rolling Stones do in funk and rock. You go out on stage and hit the audience (with your music), so they won't forget you.”
He is also convinced that a key way to draw in listeners is by emphasizing percolating rhythms that people can lock into, then playing more-challenging music on top. Groove is truly in the heart for McBride, who balances his time between his own band, studio work and a trio with guitarist Pat Metheny and Mexican drum dynamo Antonio Sanchez.
“I can only talk in terms of jazz fans,” the bassist said. “Sometimes so many jazz fans get caught up in their subconscious, superior way of hearing music. They think: 'Yeah, man, I am an intelligent person because I know what jazz is, and I can understand esoteric music.'
“They hear music that grooves as something that's not intelligent. But music that grooves is for the soul and talks to your heart. And you have to balance that with something for the brain.”
McBride credits his desire to make a visceral impact with listeners to his time with trumpet great Freddie Hubbard and vocal star Betty Carter. He also cites the two for impressing upon him the importance of approaching live performances with the utmost care and respect for audiences.
“Both Betty and Freddie, via his time in Art Blakey's band, were very much in tune with their audiences,” the mustachioed bassist said. “Somewhere along the way (jazz) musicians got so hung up in the music that they lost concern for things like: 'What is the feeling the audience is getting from you? How do you look on stage? How does the audience perceive you?'
“A guy can be on stage playing the greatest solo in the world. But if this guy is wearing a T-shirt and shorts and some sneakers, his solo might not be considered quite as great as the guy who's well-groomed and has fresh clothes, or at least has a sense of style. That goes along with hitting the audiences with the music. You don't want to come out lollygagging or being lackadaisical. And it's not just jazz musicians who do that; I've seen it with a lot of rock bands, too.”
McBride grew up listening to rock, R&B and hip-hop, before the jazz bug hit him when he was 11. It was then that he heard “Jazz at Massey Hall,” a classic live album featuring bebop giants Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Bud Powell and Max Roach.
“It was recorded in 1953, but it sounded new,” McBride recalled. “The energy coming off the record sounded like these guys were rabbits! They were playing so fast and fresh, and with so much fire and joy and passion. When you're young, that's what you get from music, a certain energy and feeling. You're not 11 and listening to Michael Jackson and thinking: 'Those are nice chords, or what a nice instrumental voicing that is.'”
McBride was barely out of his teens when he established himself in the early 1990s through his work with such jazz luminaries as Hubbard, saxophonist Bobby Watson and pianist Kenny Baron. But he made an impression before then.
“I knew Christian when he was still a kid and he stood out even then,” said Pulitzer Prize-winning trumpeter Wynton Marsalis. “I never see him that much now, but he was already a phenomenal musician then. He was unbelievable! As a boy, he could play the piano as well as the bass. I was like a band director for him and he could play everything great.”
McBride has earned lavish praise before, and no doubt will again. His goal now, though, is a more immediate one.
“There are all kinds of ways to make things work for you,” he said. “Right now, I think one of my biggest challenges is just trying to get some bodies to come out to hear us on this tour.”
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