True Blue Jazz to stage Christian McBride’s New Jawn Oct. 14
True Blue Jazz will celebrate its fifth anniversary with a five-day tour de force festival Oct. 11-15. The pinnacle of this event will be a headline performance Saturday, Oct. 14, by superstar bassist/composer Christian McBride and his latest musical incarnation, New Jawn, in shows at 7:30 and 9:30 p.m. at Clear Space Theatre in Rehoboth Beach.
The new group is a quartet featuring McBridge, trumpeter Josh Evans, saxophonist Marcus Strickland and drummer Nasheet Waits. Jawn is Philly slang to describe just about everything and anything. McBride said he named his new band Jawn since “Jawn is the one thing New York can’t lay claim to.” Five-time Grammy-winning jazz bassist McBride can be likened to a force of nature. A Juilliard prodigy powered by a relentless energy and boundless love of swing, his path was described as a continuous positive arc since his arrival on the music scene. With a career now blazing into its third decade, the Philadelphia native has become one of the most-requested, most-recorded and most-respected figures in the music world today.
McBride consistently combines deft musicianship with an innate ability to communicate enthusiasm. He has warm showmanship that transforms his passion into infectious joy. It comes across whether he’s leading his own bands, sharing the stage with jazz legends including Sonny Rollins, Chick Corea and Herbie Hancock, or accompanying pop giants such as James Brown or Sting.
Currently he hosts and produces “The Lowdown: Conversations With Christian” on SiriusXM satellite radio, and National Public Radio’s “Jazz Night in America,” a weekly radio show and multimedia collaboration between WBGO, NPR and Jazz at Lincoln Center, showcasing outstanding live jazz from across the country. With his staggering body of work, McBride is the ideal host, drawing on history, experience, and a gift for storytelling to bridge the gap between artist, music, and audience.
He brings that same breadth of experience to bear as artistic advisor for jazz programming at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center. In summer 2017, he will take the reins as artistic director of what is indisputably the greatest and most iconic festival on the planet, The Newport Jazz Festival.
Completing the circle is his work with Jazz House Kids, the nationally recognized community arts organization founded by his wife, vocalist Melissa Walker. Exclusively dedicated to educating children through jazz, the Jazz House concept brings internationally renowned jazz performers to teach alongside a professional staff, offering students a wide range of creative programming that develops musical potential, enhances leadership skills, and strengthens academic performance. This shared purpose of education and preservation endears McBride to True Blue Jazz by an even greater measure.
“The fives are really working for us this year,” said Eddie Sherman, who founded True Blue Jazz with Peggy Raley. “Five venues over five days of our fifth anniversary. And booking Christian McBride, the pre-eminent jazz artist working in music today, who’s also a five-time Grammy winner? That’s really drawing the high hand!”
To purchase tickets or learn more about the five days of straight-ahead jazz during True Blue Jazz Festival, go to truebluejazz.org.
