Bassist extraordinaire, arranger and composer Christian McBride comes to the Rialto Theatre with his group Inside Straight for a much anticipated set featuring music from his latest release, “Kind of Brown”. McBride is making a seamless transition from being a “Young Lion” in the jazz world to becoming one of its statesmen in the same vain as trumpeter Wynton Marsalis. The native of Philadelphia, PA now resides in Harlem USA and spreads his passion for jazz as the Executive Co- Director of the National Jazz Museum when not performing. He took time out of his schedule to chat with Connect.  See photos of Christian McBride performing at the Rialto Theatre on January 16, 2009.

Connect Magazine (CM):  2009 was rough on many in this country and I think we all are hoping for better days ahead.  If Jazz were the official music for 2010 in your mind, how could it communicate a message of hope and optimism?

Christian McBride(CM):  Well, that’s a good question. For one, Jazz is the kind of music that to play it well, you have to know all of the information.  A lot of times in American popular culture, you don’t need to know a lot of information to make things work. It is at a point where a lot of pop culture is based upon image, money, looks and fashion but not really rooted in anything really serious or deep. It’s like a form of escapism or fantasy land. In order to be a good Jazz musician you are creating on the spur of the moment. You are composing at will. In order to compose you have to know everything about chords, notes, harmony, rhythm… you have to practice hard. So, if Jazz were the music of the culture, I think people would be a lot more thorough in [their] thoughtfulness, in their respect for tradition, history and information. It would not always be about the quick fix, whose the cutest or richest, who has the biggest fake this or badest that,it would be about who is expressing with the most deep or sincere feelings. You can’t do this unless you really know your information. I think the popular culture would really seek out what is really going on in government, not just surface level but really going deep beneath the surface to really learn what is going on around them and in their world.

CM:  I noticed you are very giving of your time, in particular what is your involvement with the National Jazz Museum in Harlem?

CM: I was named Co-Executive Director five years ago. We have a number of flagship, free programs for the citizens of Harlem to come and really embrace the culture of Jazz.  There are so many great cultural institutes in Harlem and New York City but, ironically, there are no institutions dedicated solely to Jazz.  Sure you have Jazz at the Lincoln Center, but that is not a museum or the place to get the full breadth of the culture, it is just a place for a couple of performance pieces. They to a great outreach but there is not really a home where people can go and be with the history and deal with the present and future.

CM:   Would I be putting you on the spot by asking which gives you greater joy these days, volunteering with youth and other causes you believe in, or making and playing music?

CM:  Not at all… I think at the end of the day it is still my natural calling to get behind my bass and express my feelings for people who come to hear me perform. I still believe everyone on this earth has a purpose, and the goal in life is the find it, which is half the battle.  I was fortunate to find that playing the bass is my mode of expression. After a while, it all becomes one because the way I express myself via my instrument has now led to my passing those feelings on to others who play and enjoy Jazz.

CM:  I am a huge fan of yours and noticed you are as comfortable with funk as you are with Jazz.  Is this more to do with the fact you play bass or is it because they both allow you deep expression?

CM:  I think most musicians from my generation are equally comfortable expressing themselves in the funk as they are in Jazz because most of us kind of backed into playing Jazz. I know I speak for myself and people like Roy Hargrove, Joshua Redman and others in saying that the first music we heard was popular music; R&B, Soul, Rock’n Roll. Jazz was on always on the periphery but once we got in to it we all fell in love. We never stopped loving R&B, Soul, Funk and early Hip Hop. For me Funk is second nature and not anything I have to think about because it is what I was raised on.

CM:  Your latest work with Inside Straight entitled, “Kind of Brown” is a beautiful piece of work. In an age where the popularity of music is short-lived from a marketing standpoint what inspires you to stay true to the genre of traditional Jazz understanding the challenges of promoting the music?

CM:  Because… the music is indestructible. It might not get to everybody right away but it will stand the test of time. No one who plays Jazz is looking for fast gratification, we do it because we love the feeling of doing all of this hard work to play our instruments, we get out there create and express ourselves. Even if we are playing in a club in front of 150 people, that feels so much better than to play music you don’t like in front of 150,000 people knowing that in six months the record company  is not going to be behind you because they have moved on to the next ”Flavor of the Month”.

CM:  What does “Kind of Brown” communicate about your evolution as a writer, composer and musician?

CM:  I am still learning how to hook that up {laughs). I have always strived to be a better composer and arranger.  I am still working on the discipline to become more prolific.  It has been interesting to be around people like Chick Corea and Wayne Shorter. People like Chick, you can just lock into a room for an hour and he will come out with two brand new symphonies. Pat Metheny, Wayne Shorter, Wynton Marsalis and Terrance Blanchard, they all are like that. My writing has maintained a level of stability but I am looking to build upon that.

CM:  In reading your bio I am so impressed with the list of musicians with whom you have worked. Is this collaboration with “Inside Straight” a way for you now to give back to young lions in the Jazz music world?

CM: I put this group together for this project to get back to my [Jazz] roots. I had not done a CD of this nature…a real down the middle, real acoustic swing, straight ahead effort since my first release 15 years ago, so I figured it was time to come home,  so to speak. Young musicians give the effort a thumbs up, or least that is how it feels.

CM:  You are in Atlanta on January 16^th.  What can CB fans and lovers of music expect?

CM:  The same thing they can always expect, a good time. We are going to have a toe tapping, foot stomping, finger popping evening of fun and swing.

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