About nine years ago, trumpeter Wynton Marsalis invited a 15-year-old bassist to jam with him at the Philadelphia Academy of Music. Hundreds of concerts, club dates and 80 recordings later, Christian McBride has carved out quite a niche for himself among the pantheon of great jazz bassists.
Tonight McBride brings a wealth of experience, impeccable technique, and a rhythmic and lyrical voice unparalleled by any other contemporary artist.
Performing at the Hopkins Center tonight, McBride will play with a traditional jazz quartet featuring drummer Carl Allen, pianist Anthony Wonsey and tenor saxophonist Tim Warfield.
Constantly compared to the likes of bassists Paul Chambers, Ron Carter and Ray Brown, McBride has a distinctly original voice on one of the more underrated instruments of the traditional rhythm section.
He is classically trained, though his playing reflects a collage of diverse musical influences, ranging from James Brown to Miles Davis.
While studying classical bass at Philadelphia's High School for the Creative and Performing Arts, McBride was exposed to a strong jazz influence. At Julliard, the New York music scene turned him towards his love of jazz. Since then, McBride has recorded with Joe Henderson, Etta Jones, Betty Carter, Bruce Hornsby and Cyrus Chestnut, just to name a few.
"I'm a closet funkster -- I listen as much to rhythm and blues as to jazz," McBride said in an interview with the International Herald Tribune.
Yet his eclectic taste in music does not undermine his strength as a traditional jazz performer who has a decided mastery over the technical nuances of the instrument.
His bass lines are clean, pronounced, creative, and, most importantly, his solos are lyrical and tinged with emotional timbre.
Incredibly graceful on plucked solos, McBride's solid control of tone is matched only by his precise and thorough execution of melodic lines.
McBride is also known to break the traditional role of the jazz bassist and experiment with meters, melodies and various harmonic possibilities.
Reminiscent of the Bill Evans trio of the early 1960s -- which featured the legendary bassist Scott LaFaro -- McBride's rhythm section is a creative unit with three independent voices.
After recently completing the albums "Gettin' to It" and "Only Trust Your Heart" with vocalist Diana Krall, the 24-year-old has shot into the limelight.
Although he has been playing with contemporary jazz musicians such as pianist Benny Green, saxophonist Joshua Redman and Marsalis, McBride's evolution from a side-man to front-man is nearing completion.
The basics of his technique, however, remain unchanged. Perfect pitch, elegant precision, rhythmic swing and control of tone in all tempos and registers remain hallmarks of his playing style.
Joining McBride will be another young trumpeter who has started to draw attention in jazz circles. Nicholas Payton, who began his jazz career playing in New Orleans street parades, is another musician who has used varied styles in creating his own voice.
"I'm not necessarily focused on one specific style of music," Payton said. "I just want to be free so that at anytime I can play standards, my own original music or some more obscure tunes in the jazz repertoire."
Described as a "fiery trumpet player" by Barbary Coast Jazz Ensemble Director Donald Glasgo, Payton and the McBride quartet make up a classic jazz quintet.
The horn section, with Payton's bluesy, energetic lyricism and Warfield's Coltrane-esque solo tags, is complemented by an equally skilled rhythm section.
Though Warfield has been labeled verbose with his melodic vocabulary, he has matured considerably since he started playing with McBride. He still possesses the sense of urgency he picked up from Coltrane, but has tempered it to adapt to the style of music the quartet plays.
Allen adopts primarily a percussive, polyrhythmic style on the drum set and often engages in intense dialogue with the soloists. Wonsey adds a certain laid-back quality to the quintet's sound with his distinct harmonic approach, which emphasizes complex chordal structures.
Tickets for tonight's 8:00 p.m. concert are available at the Hopkins Center Box Office. Reserved seats are $16.50 and the student cost is $8.50.
