The Good Feeling (Mack Avenue)
Christian McBride Big Band
Released September 27, 2011
JAZZ FM 20 Best Jazz Albums of the 2010s
YouTube:
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About:
In a stellar career that continues to showcase his remarkable talents as a consummate musician, bassist Christian McBride reaches another milestone with the release of The Good Feeling, his first big band recording as a leader and newest release for Mack Avenue Records.
Track Listing:
1. Shake ‘N Blake (Christian McBride) 07:21
2. Broadway (Bill Bird / Teddy McRae / Henri Woode) 04:05
3. Brother Mister (Christian McBride) 04:53
4. When I Fall In Love (Edward Heyman / Victor Young) 05:17
5. Science Fiction (Christian McBride) 11:46
6. The Shade of the Cedar Tree (Christian McBride) 08:17
7. The More I See You (Mack Gordon / Harry Warren) 03:49
8. I Should Care (Sammy Cahn / Axel Stordahl / Paul Weston) 05:45
9. A Taste of Honey (Ric Marlow / Bobby Scott) 03:28
10. Bluesin’ In Alphabet City (Christian McBride) 08:45
11. In a Hurry (Christian McBride) 07:01
Personnel:
Bass, Arranger, Conductor: Christian McBride
Woodwinds: Steve Wilson (alto sax, flute), Todd Bashore (alto sax, flute), Ron Blake (tenor, soprano sax; flute), Todd Williams (tenor sax, flute), Loren Schoenberg (tenor sax on “I Should Care” and “Broadway”), Carl Maraghi (baritone sax, bass clarinet)
Trumpets: Frank Greene, Freddie Hendrix, Nicholas Payton, Nabate Isles
Trombones: Steve Davis, Michael Dease, James Burton, Douglas Purviance (bass trombone)
Rhythm Section: Xavier Davis (piano), Ulysses Owens, Jr. (drums)
Vocals: Melissa Walker
Recorded at Avatar Studios
Produced by Christian McBride
Engineer: Joe Ferla
Mastering: Mark Wilder
Art Direction: Raj Naik
Illustrations: Keith H. Brown
Review:
The Good
Feeling marks the debut of the Christian McBride Big Band, but the seeds
for this album were sown in the mid-’90s. Jazz at Lincoln Center commissioned
McBride to write and arrange his first major big band work—”Bluesin’ In
Alphabet City”—in 1995, and that experience really sparked his interest in
composing for large groups. Now, sixteen years after the ink dried on that
number, it appears in the penultimate position on his first big band recording.
Over the course of eleven tracks, McBride manages to present music that’s
respectful of big band traditions, while also showcasing his own unique
compositional voice. On one piece, the band might be playing over a
pedal-to-the-metal swing pulse, with a string of strong soloists selling their
wares over feisty backgrounds that come and go (“In A Hurry”), while
another number might sound like a cross between “Maiden Voyage” and
funky Freddie Hubbard-style fare (“Brother Mister”), as
distilled through the mind of one of jazz’s most talented, high profile
bassists.
The instrumentalists rule the roost on this album, but McBride makes room for
vocalist Melissa Walker on a few numbers, and she brings class to the
proceedings. Walker’s first feature, “When I Fall In Love,” opens
with McBride’s elegant arco work, and contains some charming piano soloing
from Xavier Davis, while the band cooks behind her vocals on the waltzing
“A Taste Of Honey.” “The More I See You” opens in a
relatively calm state, with Walker singing the verse, but things really heat up
later, when a Sonny Payne-style triplet build-up from drummer Ulysses
Owens, Jr. leads to some shouting brass.
While the vocal standards tend to showcase McBride’s more conservative,
in-the-tradition arrangements, his own “Science Fiction” shows what
he can do when he moves away from the norm. This number proves to be an
episodic odyssey full of wonder and surprise. Suspense gives way to sounds of
the bold and big variety, and Davis and McBride set things in motion with
driving, hook-laden riffs. Seismic shifts take place in certain places, while
more subtle adjustments are at play throughout the piece. McBride utilizes
flutes and bass clarinet in expert fashion, and these instruments help to
broaden the overall sound of the band.
Featuring McBride at the top of his game, The Good Feeling, like its
creator, is steeped in tradition while remaining tapped into what’s current and
exciting in jazz today.
Dan Bilawsky (All About Jazz)
