Christian McBride Quotes

"Watch your attitude. I don’t mean to sound like so much of an old head, but there is another generation behind me, out there, doing it now. I find that, with the whole hip-hop generation, there’s a lot of attitude. Whether it’s confidence or arrogance or whichever, I will always say to a young guy, “Nobody wants to work with an asshole.” You know, you can still be a great player. You can still play all of the baddest licks in the world. But if you don’t have a good attitude, nobody’s going to work with you." - Christian McBride

source: digitalinterviews.com

Christian McBride Quotes

"I’ve always felt that most jazz artists don’t need producers .. most jazz artists know what kind of sound they want. They don’t need a producer to come in there and tell them, “Oh, I think you should do this.” I’ve always found it very strange that there’s been such a thing as producers in jazz." - Christian McBride

source: digitalinterviews.com

Christian McBride Quotes

"When you think of diversity, George Duke fits that bill better than a lot of people. He’s played a lot of straight-ahead jazz with people like Nancy Wilson and Cannonball Adderley; he’s played a lot of fusion with his own groups, with Stanley Clarke; and, you know, he did the rock thing with Frank Zappa. He’s written all kinds of big arrangements for people like Burt Bacharach. So, he’s covered the board. He’s still a great pianist." - Christian McBride

source: digitalinterviews.com

Christian McBride Quotes

"I’m really not this jazz traditionalist guy you’ve been making me out to be all of these years." - Christian McBride

source: digitalinterviews.com

Christian McBride Quotes

"Had it not been for musicians like Wynton, his brother Branford, Kenny Barron, Bobby Watson and all kinds of guys, taking time out of their busy schedules to come and teach us when we were in high school, I don’t know how serious I would have become about being a jazz musician. So, I totally believe that it’s my duty to give it back." - Christian McBride

source: digitalinterviews.com

Christian McBride Quotes

"Out of nowhere, I get this commission to write a piece for the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra. I remember asking Wynton, “Man, are you sure you want to do this? I’ve never written for a big band before.” He said, “I bet you can do it.” That was my first chance to write for a large ensemble, and that turned out well." - Christian McBride

source: digitalinterviews.com

Christian McBride Quotes

"For my money, Ray Brown is the greatest living bass player. Every great thing that’s happened on bass since Ray Brown -- all of us point back to him. That’s where it started, you know. Ray Brown is definitely a walking master, and to get to play with him is obviously an opportunity that no one should ever pass up." - Christian McBride

source: digitalinterviews.com

Christian McBride Quotes

"The most significant bands I played in when I first got to New York were Bobby Watson’s band, Roy Hargrove’s first band, Benny Golson’s band, Benny Green’s trio, and probably the most significant out of all of those, for me personally, was playing in Freddie Hubbard’s band." - Christian McBride

source: digitalinterviews.com

Christian McBride Quotes

"That’s when I left Philly, to move up here to New York City. I learned a lot at Juilliard. It was actually my original intention to have a dual career. I wanted to have a career playing as much music as possible. I wanted to try to play jazz if I could. I wanted to play classical. I wanted to play R&B. I wanted to try to play everything but, obviously, that would be really hard to do. I went to Juilliard, obviously on a classical scholarship. I figured I was in New York City, so I would get to go to jam sessions and play with all of the jazz cats at night, and I could study classical in school during the day. But, you know, one thing led to another, and I wound up getting a lot of gigs on the jazz scene, and I had to temporarily hang up my classical career." - Christian McBride

source: digitalinterviews.com

Christian McBride Quotes

"The active jazz scene bled into what became the "Philadelphia era" and the "national era" of soul music, which hit their peak right around the time I was born -- 1972. Billy Paul had his first major hit with “Me & Mrs. Jones.” The O'Jays had “Back Stabbers.” Man, there was lots of stuff goin’ on. Hal Melvin and the Blue Notes, with a young Teddy Pendergrass as their lead singer. So, that went all the way through the ‘70s. Then, toward the late ‘70s, Grover Washington started getting gold records, and the jazz scene resurfaced in Philly. There was always lots of stuff going on. That was a really great place to grow up. In the early ‘80s, when the Philadelphia “international” scene started to die out, Grover became the national hero of Philadelphia. Then Pieces of a Dream came out. They emanated out of Grover’s band. They really were hot in the early ‘80s. By the time I graduated from high school, little did I know that half of the graduating class was going to turn out to be superstars -- Boyz II Men; Ahmir Thompson, who’s better known to the hip-hop world as ?uestlove -- he runs the group called the Roots; organist Joey De Francesco, my good buddy; guitarist Kurt Rosenwinkel; and Amel Larrieux, who used to sing with Groove Theory, who now has her own thing happening in the R&B world. There was so much stuff going on in Philly growing up." - Christian McBride

source: digitalinterviews.com