Hallelujah! Christian McBride is not one of those strait-laced, down-the-line neo-boppers after all.
Here, the prodigiously talented young standup bassist proves that he is also an astoundingly gifted electric bassist, and that '70s-vintage funk and soul are every bit as close to his heart as '50s and '60s hard bop.
On electric, McBride weaves inventive countermelodies around tenor sax Tim Warfield's lead lines, taking Jaco Pastorius' technique a step further in sheer speed and the ability to play really nasty funk patterns.
The stylistic palette of the disc is much wider than anything McBride has done before as a leader, ranging from soul ballads (a lovely cover of Stevie Wonder's nearly forgotten "Summer Soft," Wonder-like vocals from Vesta on "...Or So You Thought") to powerful funk ("Brown Funk [For Ray]"), open-ended electric jazz-rock ("Wayne's World"), and yes, straight-ahead acoustic jazz grooving (on Sly Stone's "Family Affair").
Charles Craig excels on acoustic piano, Fender Rhodes, and Wurlitzer electric pianos; drummer Gregory Hutchinson fearlessly handles any stylistic curve balls that McBride throws at him; and guitarist Russell Malone and percussionist Munyungo Jackson turn up now and then.
As produced by fellow polystylist George Duke, this is a most encouraging step out of the trap of lockstep bop for McBride.
| Title/Composers | Performer | Listen | Time | Size | Size | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | I'm Coming HomeThom Bell, Linda Creed | Christian McBride | Play | 07:01 | 16 MB | 43 MB |
| 2 | A Dream of YouChristian McBride | Christian McBride | Play | 04:40 | 10 MB | 27 MB |
| 3 | Family AffairSylvester "Sly Stone" Stewart | Christian McBride | Play | 06:42 | 15 MB | 42 MB |
| 4 | Theme from Our FairytaleChristian McBride | Christian McBride | Play | 06:59 | 16 MB | 42 MB |
| 5 | ...Or So You ThoughtChristian McBride | Christian McBride | Play | 05:42 | 13 MB | 32 MB |
| 6 | Summer SoftStevie Wonder | Christian McBride | Play | 06:42 | 15 MB | 39 MB |
| 7 | Brown Funk (For Ray)Christian McBride | Christian McBride | Play | 06:17 | 14 MB | 41 MB |
| 8 | Open SesameRonald Bell, Kool & the Gang | Christian McBride | Play | 09:29 | 21 MB | 64 MB |
| 9 | Wayne's WorldChristian McBride | Christian McBride | Play | 07:32 | 17 MB | 47 MB |
| 10 | I'll Write a Song for YouPhilip Bailey, Steve Beckmeier, Al McKay | Christian McBride | Play | 04:51 | 11 MB | 24 MB |
| 66 mins | 151 MB | |||||
| 66 mins | 405 MB | |||||
| Artist | Job | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chika Azuma | Art Direction, Design |
| 2 | Philip Bailey | Composer |
| 3 | Steve Beckmeier | Composer |
| 4 | Ronald Bell | Composer |
| 5 | Thom Bell | Composer |
| 6 | Charles Craig | Fender Rhodes, Mini Moog, Moog Synthesizer, Piano, Piano (Electric), Wurlitzer |
| 7 | Linda Creed | Composer |
| 8 | Will Downing | Guest Artist, Vocals |
| 9 | Corine Duke | Production Coordination |
| 10 | George Duke | Producer |
| 11 | Beverly Harris | Release Coordinator |
| 12 | Wayne Holmes | Assistant Engineer |
| 13 | Gregory Hutchinson | Drums, Guest Artist |
| 14 | Munyungo Jackson | Percussion, Tambourine |
| 15 | Eric Johnson | Photography |
| 16 | Kool & the Gang | Composer |
| 17 | Russell Malone | Guest Artist, Guitar (Acoustic), Guitar (Electric) |
| 18 | Christian McBride | Arranger, Bass, Bass (Acoustic), Bass (Electric), Composer, Fretless Bass, Keyboards, Liner Notes, Primary Artist, Synthesizer |
| 19 | Al McKay | Composer |
| 20 | Estée Ochoa | Stylist |
| 21 | Doug Sax | Mastering |
| 22 | Richard Seidel | Executive Producer |
| 23 | Sylvester "Sly Stone" Stewart | Composer |
| 24 | Brett Swain | Assistant Engineer |
| 25 | Camille Tominaro | Production Coordination |
| 26 | Lia Van Der Donk | Grooming |
| 27 | Vesta | Guest Artist, Vocals |
| 28 | Tim Warfield | Guest Artist, Sax (Tenor) |
| 29 | Stevie Wonder | Composer |
| 30 | Erik Zobler | Engineer, Mixing |
| 31 | Robert Zuckerman | Photography |
| 32 | Robert Zukerman | Photography |
| Quality | Format | Encoding | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | MP3 | 320kps 44.1kHz | MP3 is an audio coding format which uses a form of lossy data compression. The highest bitrate of this format is 320kbps (kbit/s). MP3 Digital audio takes less amount of space (up to 90% reduction in size) and the quality is not as good as the original one. |
| CD Quality | FLAC | 16bit 44.1kHz | FLAC is an audio coding format which uses lossless compression. Digital audio in FLAC format has a smaller size and retains the same quality of the original Compact Disc (CD). |