Christian McBride
Conversations with Christian
Conversations is a misnomer for McBride’s latest album. The conversations are all musical as he showcases his exceptional skills on the double bass in duets with musicians from diverse genres.
There are 13 tracks on the CD and the diversity of the artists is amazing: Sting; Regina Carter; Dr Billy Taylor; Dee Dee Bridgewater; Hank Jones; Chick Corea; George Duke and Eddie Palmieri are some of the musos who jam with him.
Joseph Vella explains: “In the past year I have had the pleasure of producing an ongoing series of audio and video podcasts for Christian McBride’s project titled Conversations with Christian. The series was the inspiration for Christian’s radio show called The Lowdown: Conversations with Christian where he talks to a great artist and then performs a duet. This is an intriguing album that jazz fans, especially those fond of the double bass, will enjoy.”
Modern Ladies of Jazz
Another compilation album (done in South Africa) that deserves your attention is Modern Ladies of Jazz. It features 14 ladies doing what they do best, entertaining in the jazz idiom. Here are a few of the tracks: Ernestine Anderson – All Blues; Esperanza Spalding – I Adore You; Ann Hampton Callaway – Comes Love; Stacey Kent – I’m Just A Lucky So And So and Karrin Allyson – Yardbird Suite.
Both albums reviewed are distributed by Sheer Sound which means you should have no difficulty in finding them in music stores.
l E-mail: manofjass@ yahoo.com for details of the country’s only international jazz magazine, The Jassman (now available via e-mail).
WIN! WIN!Win!
Five CDs of Modern Ladies of Jazz are up for grabs. Entries accepted by e-mail only.
Submit only one entry to: [email protected] and include your postal address, contact numbers and the answer/s.
Question: Who performs the Yardbird Suite on the Modern Ladies of Jazz album?
Competition closes at noon on Saturday.