June 22nd, Kilbourn Hall @ 6:00 & 10:00 pm

Not a big surprise after my experience with bassist Christian McBride on April 14th when he joined Ullyses S. Owens here for the Exodus to Jazz series, including a nice dinner at Henry B's with McBride and the members of the band and some cigars after the gig at Havana Moes. But anyone who was at the concert at Hochstein that night and heard the band close up the concert with Cherokee, with it's alternating steaming and screaming lines, sat in awe of his playing.

Christian McBride, who won Grammy this year for his Big Band recording The Good Feeling, is one of the most recorded jazz musicians reaching nearly 300 recordings as a sideman before the age of 40. McBride has performed and recorded with a huge number of jazz legends and ensembles, including Freddie Hubbard, Joe Henderson, McCoy Tyner, Herbie Hancock, Pat Metheny, Diana Krall, Roy Haynes, Chick Corea, John McLaughlin, Wynton Marsalis, Hank Jones, Joshua Redman, and Ray Brown's "Superbass" with John Clayton, as well as with hip-hop, pop, soul, and classical musicians like The Roots, opera singer Kathleen Battle, Carly Simon, Sting, Bruce Hornsby, and James Brown.

McBride will likely bring some of the guys from that ETJ gig back with him for his gig here as the usual cast of characters in Inside Straight includes pianist Christian Sands (who was a monster on the ETJ stage) and the incomparable Mr. Owens.

You don't believe me about Cherokee?  Here it is with his trio in a 2009 trio recording from the Bratislava Jazz Festival, including Peter Martin and USO:

I also thought you might like this full concert recorded by National Public Radio with Christian McBride and Inside Straight at the Village Vanguard.

Christian McBride is on Twitter at @mcbridesworld and can be found on Facebook as well.