Christian McBride’s New Jawn (Mack Avenue)
Christian McBride
Released October 26, 2018
Grammy Nominee for Best Jazz Instrumental Album 2020
YouTube:
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About:
Jawn: noun. A slang terminology from Philadelphia. All-purpose term for a person, place or thing
If there’s one thing the acclaimed bassist knows, it’s that when it comes to grit there’s no better resource to draw from than his own hometown, Philadelphia. So, McBride turned to one of the city’s most beloved colloquialisms to christen his latest project, Christian McBride’s New Jawn. On the band’s eponymous debut, these four stellar musicians ably walk the razor’s edge between thrilling virtuosity and gut-punch instinctiveness. The release will be available on October 26, McBride’s own newly launched imprint of his longtime label, Mack Avenue Records. Departing from the sound of Inside Straight and the Christian McBride Trio, bass giant McBride fronts New Jawn (derived from Philadelphia slang), a quartet with no chordal instrument. The album has the spark and loose feeling of a live set, its spacious harmonic language articulated with equal parts rigor and abandon by tenor saxophonist Marcus Strickland and trumpeter Josh Evans. Each player writes two tunes, beginning with McBride’s lopsided scene-setter “Walkin’ Funny” and later his modern waltz “John Day” (with Strickland doubling on bass clarinet). Drummer Nasheet Waits, with his unique facility and expression in every context, from free-form to hard swing, contributes “Ke-Kelli Sketch” and the affecting ballad “Kush” (another bass clarinet piece). Evans’ entries range from the darkly hued “Ballad of Ernie Washington” to the Caribbean-tinged “Pier One Import,” while Strickland’s “The Middle Man” and “Seek the Source” bring the heat and light of surging uptempo post-bop and idiosyncratic blues in turn.
Track Listing:
1. Walkin’ Funny (Christian McBride) 02:48
Grammy Nominee for Best Instrumental Composition 2020
2. Ke-Kelli Sketch (Nasheet Waits) 09:54
3. Ballad of Ernie Washington (Josh Evans) 05:34
4. The Middle Man (Marcus Strickland) 04:59
5. Pier One Import (Josh Evans) 07:44
6. Kush (Nasheet Waits) 05:35
7. Seek the Source (Marcus Strickland) 07:21
8. John Day (Christian McBride) 05:19
9. Sightseeing (Wayne Shorter) 08:24
Grammy Nominee for Best Improvised Jazz Solo 2020 (Christian McBride, soloist)
Personnel:
Christian McBride: bass
Josh Evans: trumpet
Marcus Strickland: tenor sax, bass clarinet
Nasheet Waits: drums
Recorded May 25-27, 2017 at Jazz St. Louis, MO and Sear Sound, New York, NY
Producer: Christian McBride
Associate Producer: Todd Whitelock
Engineer: Paul Herenreich, Todd Whitelock
Assistant Engineer: Josh Welshman
Mixing: Todd Whitelock
Mastering: Mark Wilder
Cover Illustration: Keith H. Brown
Art Direction: Raj Naik
Review:
Christian
McBride was looking for a new musical challenge. So he decided to form a
band that would play without the use of chords. The bassist explains,
“Every major group I’ve been a part of for the last ten years, whether
it’s been with Pat Metheny or Chick Corea, or my own projects,
there’s been nothing but chords. So, I wanted to see what happens if I just
pull the chords out altogether.”
The result is Christian McBride’s New Jawn. The name derives from the
black Philadelphian slang term jawn meaning “thing,” as in
“do your thing.” The band comprises McBride, trumpeter Josh
Evans, saxophonist Marcus Strickland, and drummer Nasheet Waits.
McBride says he chose the name New Jawn because the band’s members
“had grit under their fingernails” and he wanted a name that wasn’t “buttoned
up” like Quartet. The band’s only (golden) rule: no chords.
McBride’s other recent bands have included: Inside
Straight, featuring alto/soprano saxophonist Steve Wilson; a trio featuring the
phenomenal young pianist Christian Sands; an 18-piece big band; and the
experimental group A Christian McBride Situation with pianist Patrice Rushen,
saxophonist Ron Blake and vocalist Alyson Williams. No doubt about it,
McBride’s almost as hard-working as was the the late James Brown. He has
also played as a sideman on around 300 albums and is artistic director of the
Newport Jazz Festival, having succeeded founder George Wein in that role in
2016.
The New Jawn kick off with McBride’s “Walkin’
Funny,” the staggering rhythm and stuttering of the horns implying a
drunken, unsteady gait. Next
up: “Ke-Kelli Sketch,” a portrait of drummer Nasheet Waits’ wife that
Waits describes as “an aural Picasso.” McBride is to the fore with
Waits right up there with him, then Evans and Strickland take over and it all
becomes a tad formless, perhaps a flaw of the no chords approach (or maybe they
just wanted it that way).
“The Ballad of Ernie Washington” is named
for the pseudonym Thelonious Monk used when his cabaret card was
revoked in the mid-1950s. The number is so respectful Monk might not have approved
but it’s one of the standout tracks, along with “The Middleman” and
“Pier One Import.”
The proceedings conclude with Wayne Shorter’s
fast-paced “Sightseeing.” Strickland plays an interesting,
freewheeling solo with McBride working hard in behind him. Evans takes over, then
leaves McBride to get on with it, which he does in his usual no-frills,
muscular but intelligent fashion.
Chris Mosey (All About Jazz)