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The Christian McBride Band
Venue: Raymond Walters College - Blue Ash
Group: The Christian McBride Band
Christian McBride – Bass
Geoffrey Keezer – Organs/Piano
Walter Smith III – Saxophone
Terreon "Tank" Gully - Drums
Cincinnati, home to some incredible jazz in its own right, is tonight the beneficiary of a real treat. The Christian McBride Band, with its namesake bass player/bandleader at the helm, visits the queen city, care of the Rhythm N’ Blue Ash concert series. Featured as the Jazz Half event of the month for January, they play to a crowd of about 400 at Muntz Hall on the campus of Raymond Walters College in Blue Ash.
The Christian McBride Band, or CMB, has sported a consistent lineup for years, however for this leg of their tour, long-time sax man, Ron Blake, is being subbed-for by the young rising star Walter Smith III. To a seasoned fan of CMB this may at first seem like disheartening news as Blake is one of the most talented and provocative sax players today. However, by the first half minute of the first song, Wizard of Montara, a tribute to the great vibraphonist, Bobby Hutcherson, it becomes apparent that even in light of CMB’s “absent quarter,” nothing will be missing from this night’s show.
Out of the gate, swinging with pointed urgency, the rhythm section provides bedrock on which the sax soars and dives, literally non-stop. Body convulsing moderately, face grimacing at times, Smith’s body language says its all he can do to keep up the frenetic, if beautiful, lines. One has only to close one’s eyes and really hear the unbelievable sound which Smith creates. That of him channeling, not Coltrane or Coleman (though such comparisons wouldn’t be disputed by many), but his own best self in this moment – a transparent and inspiring expression that physically and mentally moves the listener. A thoughtful, powerful and imminently skilled player, he vanishes from the sound space as unpretentiously as he entered it a few dozen bars earlier, leaving the audience very much looking forward to what the night holds in store.
Equally unpretentious are Geoffrey Keezer’s moves between acoustic and electric pianos. Grinding out space-tones and warbling organ effects amid pocket-tight straight chord vamping, Keezer fuses styles from a broad spectrum. He experiments with sounds in real time, leaving the canned performance to someone else, some place else. Of particular coolness is how, as a natural by-product of his setup, he at times works out with his right hand on the low end of the acoustic at the same time his left hand is at the top end of the electric, opposite the normal hand-to-octave relationship – effectively the equivalent of a guitar player flipping his axe and playing counter-handed. The fact that, audibly, you’d never notice, makes Keezer that much more impressive. (McBride will call him a genius when introducing him after this first song; another comparison that would be hard to dispute by most.)
McBride himself, as the opportunity presents itself, works out in “typical” McBride style, which is anything but typical. With piano and drums so low-key and tight behind him, creating a canvas on which to draw, his solo is tireless and the notes-per-second ratio is at times unbelievable. Yet it never seems forced, always enlivens the moment and is expressed for the highest good of his band and his audience. McBride is a Virtuoso and his virtuosity is in full effect tonight.
Number two is Clerow’s Flipped, and ode to the late comedian Flip Wilson. Swinging funkily, the cut is super-groovy and danceable. Here is, by definition, fusion in its truest sense. McBride seamlessly melds straight jazz, funk and classical feels as Keezer’s space-piano accents and further defines the tune. Smith’s sax is tireless and continually fresh. And enough cannot be said for Terreon “Tank” Gulley’s prowess on drums. While he hails from Southwest Atlanta, GA, he is at home behind the kit. His sound is imminently vivid, not simply keeping the beat as much as creating his quarter of the combo afresh in each measure. He appears so at ease, that if you see his performance without hearing it, you might think he’s a minimalist, and would certainly be shocked at the vibrancy of his sound in spite of such a relaxed demeanor. However, contrary to appearances, he’s all over it in a big way.
Tune #3, Egad from McBride’s sophomore album, Number Two Express leads off with a killer bass intro and steadily into a syncopated swing with the ensemble moving in unison throughout most of the melodic lines until breaking into extend solo sections. McBride calls out approval to his band mates at various times, like a good leader will, and the tune eventually settles into an otherworldly space characterized by eastern-sounding scale structures, before coming back to the head.
Sitting On a Cloud begins by way of a prettily pensive bass intro, creating a palpable space in the room. Framed by electric piano tones, the swing is meandering. It’s heading somewhere, no doubt, but is taking its time in getting there, and celebrating the journey. A joyful and laid back tune, Keezer’s piano stands out as virtuoso. His spacey texture is reminiscent of Corea or Hancock, and more than setting the mood, he works it out in his own right in the small spaces between beats afforded by Smith.
Jaco Pastorius’s Havona, the final track on Weather Report’s epic album Heavy Weather, is a tour de force with McBride on the electric, fretless bass. A mile-a-minute and in-the-pocket, all at the same time, the tune is fast and tight; simultaneously homage to Jaco, to the electric bass and to McBride’s own vision.
Lullaby for a Lady Bug from McBride’s Sci-Fi album is literally the most moving piece this reviewer has ever heard performed live. A pensive, slightly dissonant acoustic piano creates a real space in the auditorium, the audience’s attention caught. Enter McBride a minute later using wah peddle on, and bowing the stand up bass staccato and tremolo, creating another distinct space. Poignant and unfettered, the two musics become the soundtrack to a quaint drama – the drama of the lady bug, presumably – unfolding in the mind’s eye, and at times seemingly visually before our very eyes. Two distinct universes as revealed through piano and bass, parallel yet interacting, become “visible” in a display of staggering beauty. This is what McBride is, and always has been about. He moves his audience beyond their own sense of what is possible and walks them across the threshold of that which is largely unnamable. Call it the essence of Music or the music of Essence, or some other well-intentioned poetry. Like all things of truth and beauty, which are meant only to be perceived and known, and which fail to be captured by words and indeed even by thought, Lullaby takes us there.
The Spinners’ I’m Coming Homeis the uproarious closer. Funky out the wahzoo, McBride’s cover of this tune from his A Family Affair album was inspired by The Spinners’ performance of it as recorded in the Muhammad Ali documentary When We Were Kings. A New Orleans drum beat supports Hammond-sounding organ riffs with Keezer ripping it up top left handed, and moving seamlessly to down below as smoothly as McBride does on his own instrument. The stand up bass can be an unwieldy piece of wood for some. But McBride absolutely makes it sing. His lines are so melodious and move across such a broad range, they are the lines you’d expect of a pianist or horn player or other more “agile” instrument. And McBride does it again and again. Fresh and alive, he’s always adding to what came before. There’s no dog & pony show here. Just years of love for the bass and for music and frankly, for his audience, which creates a space for communication that is authentic in the tradition of all the jazz greats that have come before, and sure to inspire those yet to come.
An unwavering standing ovation is only quelled when CMB returns to the stage for their encore number. McBride thanks Cincinnati for their show of appreciation, and tells us that we have no idea how much it means to them. In light of their aggressive touring schedule and the general circumstances surrounding the life of a touring musician, we know he’s right.
jh