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| Christian McBride at the Antioch Collegiate Jazz Festival by Malcolm Hunter  "A Christian McBride Situation", a jazz trio featuring jazz bassist Christian McBride, pianist Geoffrey Keezer and drummer Justin Brown, will headline the Antioch Collegiate Jazz Festival, which is scheduled on Saturday, May 5th at the historic El Campanil Theatre in Antioch, CA. Grammy-winning McBride, chameleonic virtuoso of the acoustic and electric bass, stands tall at the top of the clique of masterful performers, composers and arrangers, in jazz. Beginning his career in 1989, the Philadelphian has thus far been first-call to accompany literally hundreds of fine artists.These range in an impressive array from jazz pianist McCoy Tyner and pop artist Sting to opera-singer Kathleen Battle and jazz-singer-pianist Diana Krall. However, it is McBride's own recordings – albums that comprise a diverse canon of his compositions and imaginative arrangements that reveal the totality of his musicianship. His standard unit, Christian McBride Band, also features keyboardist Geoffrey Keezer, in addition to saxophonist Ron Blake and drummer Terreon Gully. However, for this or any other event when McBride leads a band with a non-standard lineup, he displays his sly sense of humor by describing the resulting ensemble as "A Christian McBride Situation." The trio will be the grand finale of the Antioch Collegiate Jazz Festival. It will follow two quartets, one each from Fresno State and San José State, a quintet from the University of the Pacific's Dave Brubeck Jazz Institute, and a sextet from Cal State East Bay. The small ensemble format marks a departure from most collegiate jazz festivals, which normally feature bands, each one totaling approximately 15 members. Also, the ACJF will also be a non-competitive event. The idea for the collegiate jazz festival was inspired by the title of the Dave Brubeck Quartet's 1954 recording, "Jazz Goes to College." This came about when the Antioch Music Foundation reviewed some of Brubeck's discography while inquiring with his agent about Brubeck's possibly performing at El Campanil. However, Brubeck was unavailable, and, even in his mid-80's, he was booked solid for the foreseeable future. Yet, the "jazz" and "college" motifs from Brubeck's album title would not go away. Eventually, the brainstorming for a jazz music event shifted the focus from professional jazz musicians performing at colleges to collegiate jazz musicians performing outside of college. The idea for adding Christian McBride was rooted in his recent association with UOP's Brubeck Institute, where he had been its Artistic Director. write your comments about the article :: © 2007 Jazz News :: home page |