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Christian McBride: Filling Many Roles as Musician, Broadcaster and Artistic Director for Newport Jazz Festival

Christian McBride with bass
Christian McBride

Like most people I listen to most off my music digitally now. Over the last couple of weeks I’ve been putting my scattered CD collection together and listening to a lot of things that have been out of circulation for a while. I have been truly amazed by how many things that Christian McBride has played on.

Outside of being a virtuoso bassist with his own recording career he as played as a sideman on an incredible cross section of the most creative music of the last 25 years. He also plays the role of jazz ambassador and curator with radio shows on both NPR and SiriusXM.

Most recently he has been named the Artistic Director of the Newport Jazz Festival.
We talked about balancing his workload, Newport, George Wein, Chick Corea and his upcoming projects.

www.christianmcbride.com

Music used in this podcast:
Christian McBride – Tango Improvisations (featuring Chick Corea) – Conversations with Christian
Christian McBride – Tones for Joan’s Bones (featuring Chick Corea) – Number Two Express
Christian McBride – Sand Dune – Live at the Village Vanguard
Christian McBride – Boogie Woogie Waltz – Live at Tonic
Christian McBride & Inside Straight – The Movement Revisited – People Music

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Vintage Newport Jazz and Folk Festival Programs

A couple of weeks ago my friend John Murphy invited me to see his collection of Newport Jazz and Folk Festival memorabilia. John is a former WRIU jazz radio host (aka, The Monsignor or John of Jamestown) and has been going to the Newport festivals since the early 1960s. I wish I had recorded our conversation, he had stories about Duke Ellington and James Brown that I wish I could remember.

The note in the autograph from Myself Among Others relates to having to pull the plug on Jimmy Smith in 1965. The police were about to shut down the festival for running too late and the band was showing no signs of stopping.

John told a story about how he had ordered tickets by mail for the 1966 Folk Festival. When he went to pick them up at the ticket window there were none there. To make good on the error they gave him very good seats right up front, sitting next to Pete Seeger and his wife. He said they were very friendly and he ended up going home with Seeger’s program with his notes for the day inside.

 

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Dave Liebman talks about History, Teaching and his Expansions Group

Dave Liebman
Dave Liebman

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Reed player Dave Liebman has a career spanning over 50 years. The discography on his website lists 512 albums as a leader and with others. Starting in New York City in the 1960s he is a former sideman of Elvin Jones and Miles Davis. Although he plays tenor saxophone and flute there was a long part of his career where played exclusively soprano saxophone.

We talked about his early free playing with Jack DeJohnette and Dave Holland (he has recently been in the studio with them again), his teaching perspective and his Expansions Group that will play at the Newport Jazz Festival this year.

davidliebman.com

whalingcitysound.com

Music used in this podcast:
The David Liebman Group – The Puzzle
Dave Liebman – First Visit
The David Liebman Group – Hat TrickThe David Liebman Group – Samsara
The David Liebman Group – Sivad

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