Aug 20, 2024 12:23 PM
Christian McBride Maintains Curatorial Balance at Newport
Newport Jazz Festival 2024 carried much promise, and it delivered: a diverse and very strong lineup – each act an…
“You gotta go out on a limb and book people who you know people need to see, need to experience,” says Christian McBride of curating the Newport Jazz Festival.
Aug 20, 2024 12:23 PM
Newport Jazz Festival 2024 carried much promise, and it delivered: a diverse and very strong lineup – each act an…
Christian McBride and writer Ashley Kahn meet for a DownBeat Blindfold Test hosted by New York University’s Jazz Studies program.
Aug 29, 2023 12:17 PM
Christian McBride turned 51 this May 31 and is still pushing far beyond what many might consider conventional career…
Samara Joy brought fans to their feet in the middle of her Newport set!
Aug 8, 2023 4:53 PM
“Something for everybody” was the strategy of the Ed Sullivan Show, the most successful variety show in TV history,…
’You can’t simply book a festival with things that you like,” Christian McBride says of the Newport Jazz Festival. “You have a responsibility to present up-and-coming artists who people don’t know yet. And you have to get people in the seats.”
Jul 25, 2023 2:26 PM
This year’s Newport Jazz Festival, scheduled for Aug. 4–6, will continue George Wein’s strategy of presenting a…
Norah Jones and Christian McBride perform at the sixth annual Jazz Set benefit concert.
Aug 16, 2022 1:36 PM
His left hand on the bass, Christian McBride spoke with playful conviction: “You’re out of your mind.” Norah…
“This is right up my alley,” Marc Johnson said of a Gary Peacock cut.
Aug 9, 2022 2:49 PM
Bassist Marc Johnson says, “Rhythmically, a bassist has to perform very secure and confident phrases to really…
Saxophonist and JHK alumnus Birsa Chatterjee observes his student ensemble the Jazz House Messengers as they perform “Autumn Leaves.”
Apr 26, 2022 2:40 PM
Jazz House Kids views music education as an interdisciplinary curriculum.
His left hand on the bass, Christian…
Jon Batiste delivers a vocal-and-piano version of “Sweet Lorraine” on the Relief album.
Apr 12, 2022 1:40 PM
The word unprecedented was a mainstay of 2020 conversations, and for mostly negative reasons. But the pandemic also…
McBride’s ambition was to honor Rosa Parks, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Muhammad Ali and Malcolm X.
Feb 18, 2022 9:13 AM
Christian McBride helped commence the Kennedy Center’s Black History Month celebration on Feb. 4 with a rousing…
“There’s so much history right in Washington, D.C.,” Christian McBride said about bringing his music about the Civil Rights Movement to the nation’s capital.
Feb 1, 2022 4:29 PM
Bassist Christian McBride is bringing his ambitious civil rights music, which was 20 years in the making, to The…
Jon Batiste’s We Are garnered 12 Grammy nominations.
Nov 30, 2021 1:21 PM
The Recording Academy has announced the nominees for the 2022 Grammy Awards. While there are plenty of potential…
Robert Glasper
Sep 28, 2021 2:52 PM
Keyboardist, composer and jazz party starter Robert Glasper begins a jam-packed, star-studded, 33-day residency at the…
The Monterey Jazz Festival, one of many reopening for late summer.
Jun 15, 2021 11:43 AM
In what has to be billed as the great jazz reopening, festivals are coming back online, many with late-breaking plans…
Robert Glasper will perform all three days in different musical settings.
Jun 8, 2021 1:01 PM
The Newport Jazz Festival has announced that tickets are now on sale for this year’s event July 30–Aug. 1 with a…
Joey DeFrancesco livestreamed a performance from the University of New Hampshire on Monday, April 12.
Apr 16, 2021 3:47 PM
This week’s streams feature classic jazz performances from The Ed Sullivan Show in celebration of Jazz Appreciation…
Bandleader Francisco Mela is set to stream a solo drum performance Friday via Soapbox Gallery.
Feb 11, 2021 4:50 PM
As performers look to replace income from lost gigs and regain a sense of community amid the coronavirus pandemic, a…
Danny Jonokuchi and his large ensemble, The Revisionists, submitted the winning video entry for the inaugural edition of Count Basie’s Great American Swing Contest.
Dec 15, 2020 2:23 PM
Musicians who are selected to judge a jazz competition often face an extremely difficult, painstaking task. But,…
Christian McBride was voted Jazz Artist of the Year and topped the Bass category in this year’s DownBeat Readers Poll.
Dec 8, 2020 8:47 AM
Christian McBride has some valuable wisdom to share. He knows how to make jazz more popular with young people and how…
Brian Charette plans to stream a set marking the release of a new album on Saturday.
Dec 4, 2020 10:01 AM
As performers look to replace income from lost gigs and regain a sense of community amid the coronavirus pandemic, a…
George Benson is the newest inductee in the DownBeat Hall of Fame.
Nov 16, 2020 10:23 AM
DownBeat is proud to announce the results of its 85th Annual Readers Poll.
Readers have voted to induct…
Bassist Bootsy Collins is set to issue The Power Of The One, an album featuring a litany of jazz luminaries, as well as artists like rapper Snoop Dogg and blues guitarist Christone “Kingfish” Ingram.
Oct 5, 2020 1:03 PM
Bootsy Collins has been dispensing funk as a bandleader and with performers like James Brown and George Clinton for…
Bassist Christian McBride (left), saxophonist Joshua Redman, drummer Brian Blade and pianist Brad Mehldau reconvened in the studio after more than two decades for RoundAgain.
Dec 14, 2020 1:11 PM
Twenty-six years ago, a new quartet led by a rising star in the jazz world demonstrated how the music could be…
Terri Lyne Carrington, who topped three categories in the 2020 DownBeat Critics Poll, is the first female instrumentalist to win the Jazz Artist of the Year category.
Jul 6, 2020 5:39 PM
Trailblazing drummer and bandleader Terri Lyne Carrington has made history numerous times in her career, and the…
Top row from left: Nduduzo Makhathini (Photo: Nailah Makhathini); Brandee Younger and Dezron Douglas at their home in the East Harlem neighborhood of New York City (Photo: Courtesy of Artists); Chick Corea (Photo: Toshi Sakurai, Courtesy Chick Corea Productions). Bottom row from left: Christian McBride (Photo: R. Andrew Lepley); Stanton Moore at his home in New Orleans (Photo: Lauren Del Rio); Wolfgang Muthspiel and his 4-year-old daughter, Flora, at their home in Vienna (Photo: Courtesy of Artist); Kris Davis (Photo: ©Caroline Mardok).
Jun 17, 2020 8:56 AM
It wasn’t supposed to be like this. Musicians around the globe had gigs, recording dates, mixing sessions—stuff to…
Christian McBride is among the artists whose albums will be sold during the allONE initiative, running on the Mack Avenue website from April 30 to May 3.
Apr 30, 2020 8:51 AM
As live performances have come to a halt during the coronavirus pandemic, jazz musicians and record label executives…
Jerome Jennings follows up his 2016 release, The Beast, with Solidarity.
Dec 12, 2019 10:15 AM
Jerome Jennings stays focused on his goals. After getting his start in his home state of Ohio, he earned degrees from…
Bassist and bandleader Christian McBride, who has won six Grammy awards, has three more Grammy nominations.
Dec 2, 2019 12:35 PM
Among artists receiving multiple nominations for the 62nd Grammy Awards are bassist Christian McBride, bassist/vocalist…
Christian McBride performs with his band New Jawn at the Chicago Jazz Festival on Aug. 31.
Nov 16, 2020 10:33 AM
Christian McBride believes in “paying it forward.” The bassist traveled to Aspen, Colorado, for a week in August to…
Chick Corea’s Trilogy, which also includes bassist Christian McBride and drummer Brian Blade, are set to play the 2019/20 Symphony Center Presents Jazz series in Chicago on Nov. 1.
Oct 7, 2019 9:40 AM
The 2019/2020 Symphony Center Presents Jazz series in Chicago is set to return Nov. 1.
During the past two-plus…
Mike LeDonne returns to the piano trio format on Partners In Time.
Oct 3, 2019 9:46 AM
Listeners who know Mike LeDonne as a master Hammond B-3 practitioner through his Groover Quartet recordings on Savant…
Co-artistic Director Derrick Hodge performed multiple sets with various ensembles during the 62nd Monterey Jazz Festival, which ran Sept. 27-29 in Monterey, California.
Oct 8, 2019 10:17 AM
On the Jimmy Lyons Stage at the Monterey Jazz Festival, which ran Sept. 27-29 in Monterey, California,…
Pianist Chick Corea, bassist Christian McBride and drummer Brian Blade follow their 2014 recording with Triology 2, a two-disc live set due out Oct. 4.
Sep 30, 2019 2:55 PM
In a piece on Trilogy 2, DownBeat writer James Hale says the “artistic breadth and technical facility” of bassist…
Miguel Zenón and Melissa Aldana perform Sunday at the Chicago Jazz Festival with Latino-America Unida, a new collective that also included drummer Antonio Sánchez, bassist Ricky Rodriguez and pianist David Virelles.
Sep 4, 2019 3:25 PM
Epic and epochal performances defined the 41st annual Chicago Jazz Festival, which ran Aug. 29-Sept. 1 at Millennium…
Joel Ross and Good Vibes celebrate the vinyl release of Kingmaker on Friday, Aug. 2 at the Newport Jazz Festival in Newport, Rhode Island. Ross—who also played with Makaya McCraven and with the collective In Common—performed three sets in two days during the festival.
Aug 12, 2019 1:45 PM
By the time Paul Gonsalves shook up Fort Adams with 27 blistering choruses in 1956, the Newport Jazz Festival already…
Keyboardist and composer Patrice Rushen’s catalog has been reinvigorated with the release of Remind Me (The Classic Elektra Recordings, 1978–1984).
Aug 5, 2019 5:58 PM
Patrice Rushen’s first appearance on Soul Train was not as a musical guest.
After Don Cornelius took the show from…
May 7, 2019 4:06 PM
The 8th annual Sarah Vaughan International Jazz Vocal Competition, also known as the SASSY awards, is accepting…
As part of the Chicago Jazz Festival, Grammy-winning singer Cécile McLorin Salvant will perform at the Jay Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park on Aug. 31 at 7:45 p.m.
Apr 25, 2019 9:58 PM
A parade of stars will perform at this year’s Chicago Jazz Festival (scheduled for Aug. 23–Sept. 1), including…
Roy Hargrove (1969–2018)
Feb 24, 2020 10:15 AM
Trumpeter Roy Hargrove died on Nov. 2 in New York City, according to a statement released by his manager, Larry…
Bassist Christian McBride (left) and Bootsy Collins sat down for a moderated conversation with journalist Andy Hermann in Los Angeles.
Sep 19, 2018 3:28 PM
“Greatest day of my life,” declared Christian McBride without a hint of hyperbole. Even for a six-time…
Marquis Hill Blacktet is set to play 7:30 p.m. Feb. 15 at The University of Chicago’s Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts.
Aug 27, 2018 10:35 AM
The University of Chicago Presents series marks its 75th season with a mixture of classical, new music and jazz…
Pat Metheny (left), Joanne Brackeen, Todd Barkan, bassist Christian McBride, singer Angelique Kidjo, Dianne Reeves and guitarist Nir Felder at the 2018 NEA Jazz Masters Tribute Concert on April 16 at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C.
May 12, 2018 6:22 PM
“We’re all partners in time. And this music makes time our friend, not an implacable foe,” said Grammy-winning…
Wynton Marsalis is the newest inductee in the DownBeat Hall of Fame.
Nov 7, 2017 12:00 PM
DownBeat is proud to announce the results of its 82nd Annual Readers Poll.
Wynton Marsalis topped the Trumpet…
Christian McBride leads his namesake big band at the 2017 Newport Jazz Festival in Newport, Rhode Island.
Sep 12, 2017 6:28 PM
After a six-year wait, renowned bassist Christian McBride reunites with his big band to release Bringin’ It, the…
Cécile McLorin Salvant performs at the Newport Jazz Festival.
Jul 22, 2018 9:44 AM
This year’s Newport Jazz Festival, held Aug. 4-6 at Fort Adams State Park in Newport, Rhode Island, marked the…
Christian McBride (foreground) and Questlove (background) perform in The Philadelphia Experiment at the Newport Jazz Festival on Aug. 6.
Aug 12, 2017 1:19 PM
The annual pilgrimage to Fort Adams State Park, located at the mouth of Newport Harbor, Rhode Island, is a high point…
Matt Wilson’s new album Honey And Salt will be released August 25 on Palmetto Records.
Jun 2, 2017 10:20 PM
When Carl Sandburg died in 1967, President Lyndon B. Johnson hailed the famed poet as “more than the voice of…
Drummer Jerome Jennings’ leader debut is titled The Beast.
Apr 28, 2017 9:24 AM
Drummer Jerome Jennings is one of the hardest-working musicians on the scene today. Despite his prowess on the…
Herbie Hancock (left), Christian McBride, Wayne Shorter, Danilo Pérez, John Patitucci and Brian Blade take a bow after a performance at New Jersey Performing Arts Center on April 23.
May 2, 2017 12:55 PM
It’s a little over a mile, walking distance, from 106 South Street, where Wayne Shorter grew up in Newark’s…
Kenny Barron (left), Reggie Workman, Al Foster and Jimmy Heath participate in a memorial ceremony for bassist Bob Cranshaw at St. Peter’s Church in New York City on Jan. 30.
Feb 3, 2017 4:23 PM
New York’s St. Peter’s Church was packed to the rafters on Jan. 26. Dozens of spectators crowded into the venue’s…
Clint Eastwood (left) and Quincy Jones at the Monterey Jazz Festival in Monterey, California
Oct 10, 2016 4:08 PM
One of the highlights of the 59th annual Monterey Jazz Festival was the big band-heavy Tribute to Quincy Jones: The A&M…
Joey Alexander (left) and Chick Corea play a duet at the Rochester International Jazz Festival in Rochester, New York, on June 28.
Jul 19, 2016 3:59 PM
Pianist Chick Corea is touring ceaselessly in 2016, appearing at many summer festivals prior to his historic residence…
Bassist Christian McBride will be the next artistic director of the Newport Jazz Festival
Mar 22, 2016 2:21 PM
Jazz impresario George Wein, founder of the Newport Jazz Festival, is stepping down from his directorial role after 62…
Apr 24, 2020 3:00 PM
