WEBVTT - Christian McBride on Jazz and “Jawn”

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<v Speaker 1>I'm Alec Baldwin and you're listening to Here's the Thing

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<v Speaker 1>from iHeart Radio. The sound you're hearing is the magic

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<v Speaker 1>fingers of acclaimed jazz bassist, composer and arranger Christian McBride.

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<v Speaker 1>That's him on Stick and Move with his band Inside,

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<v Speaker 1>straight from Live at the Village Vanguard. The eight time

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<v Speaker 1>Grammy winner is the leader of several bands of various

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<v Speaker 1>sizes and configurations. He's collaborated with everyone from Herbie Hancock

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<v Speaker 1>and Diana Crawl to Sting and Celine Dion. He also

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<v Speaker 1>serves as the artistic director of both the Newport Jazz

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<v Speaker 1>Festival and the educational organization Jazz House Kids. Growing up,

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<v Speaker 1>McBride was known to many as a child prodigy. He

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<v Speaker 1>attended the Philadelphia High School for Creative and Performing Arts

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<v Speaker 1>in the same class as Questlove and Boys to Men.

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<v Speaker 1>He even performed on stage with both Wynton Marsalis and

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<v Speaker 1>Miles Davis while still in high school. I wanted to

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<v Speaker 1>know how a young talent like McBride found his entry

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<v Speaker 1>point to a challenging genre like jazz.

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<v Speaker 2>The music I grew up on was James Brown. James

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<v Speaker 2>Brown has always been my number one musical hero our household,

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<v Speaker 2>you know, like you said, you grew up on Cream

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<v Speaker 2>and Hendrix and Zappa. My household was full of James Brown,

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<v Speaker 2>the Temptations, Aretha Franklin, Gladys Knight, and the Pips, Al Green,

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<v Speaker 2>Isaac Hayes. So I sort of backed my way into jazz,

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<v Speaker 2>you did, Oh yeah, absolutely? And what was the.

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<v Speaker 1>Beginning of that seduction? How did you decide? Because I mean,

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<v Speaker 1>I'm not saying this to be kind. You seem like

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<v Speaker 1>you could play any music you wanted to, well, thank you,

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<v Speaker 1>and you'd have a seed in any band you wanted.

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<v Speaker 2>Well, that was my ultimate goal. You know, my dad

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<v Speaker 2>is also a professional bass player, and so while I'm

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<v Speaker 2>growing up listening to all this R and B and

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<v Speaker 2>soul music, my dad started playing with the great Cuban

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<v Speaker 2>percussionist Mongo Santa Maria. And so I saw my dad

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<v Speaker 2>play with Mongo a lot, and you know, I thought,

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<v Speaker 2>I don't know much about Latin music, but this is killing,

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<v Speaker 2>you know. And I was eight years old and I

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<v Speaker 2>was watching dad play with Mongo and Dizzy Gillespie was

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<v Speaker 2>the guest soloist with the band that night, and I

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<v Speaker 2>knew who Dizzy was I wasn't familiar with his music,

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<v Speaker 2>but I knew who he was, you know, who didn't

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<v Speaker 2>know those cheeks, you know, And I had seen him

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<v Speaker 2>on The Muppet Show and you know, so he was

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<v Speaker 2>like the only jazz musician who I knew. And after

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<v Speaker 2>the show was over, my dad took me backstage, and

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<v Speaker 2>I remember Meltor May was also there that night, Ella

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<v Speaker 2>Fitzgerald and Dizzy and you know, just being around all

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<v Speaker 2>these legendary jazz musicians, I thought, man, he's these guys

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<v Speaker 2>are cool, you know. But even still. It wasn't until

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<v Speaker 2>I got to middle school and I started playing the

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<v Speaker 2>upright bass. That's when the other bass player in my family,

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<v Speaker 2>my great uncle, he plays bass also. He got so

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<v Speaker 2>excited that I was playing upright bass. He said, come

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<v Speaker 2>over to my house. I got something for you, and

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<v Speaker 2>he had a stack of records waiting for me. He

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<v Speaker 2>gave me a crash course in the history of jazz

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<v Speaker 2>in like six hours, you know. He played my house

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<v Speaker 2>Cold Traine, Charlie Parker, Louis Armstrong all the way up

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<v Speaker 2>through Weather Report and Return It Forever, and things that

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<v Speaker 2>were contemporary like Win Marcellus and Terrence Blanchard. So He

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<v Speaker 2>really pulled me all the way in. And the reason

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<v Speaker 2>why I fell in love with jazz was partly because

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<v Speaker 2>of the music, but also because of the way my

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<v Speaker 2>great uncle taught me, which I feel is probably the

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<v Speaker 2>most important thing that I wish more instructors would learn.

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<v Speaker 2>So most jazz teachers, I think most jazz fans tend

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<v Speaker 2>to be a little dogmatic. You know, they teach you

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<v Speaker 2>how great the music is by belittling what you already like.

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<v Speaker 2>And my great uncle never did that. So what do

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<v Speaker 2>you mean, the little one. It's like Prince Man, he

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<v Speaker 2>don't need to listen to No, Prince that's garbage. See,

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<v Speaker 2>you need to listen to you need to listen to

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<v Speaker 2>cat Jazz is a higher place, right right. So my

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<v Speaker 2>great uncle never did that. He knew how much I

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<v Speaker 2>loved James Brown and Michael Jackson and Prince and Rick James,

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<v Speaker 2>and he was like, oh, yeah, they're bad too, they're

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<v Speaker 2>bad too, But listen to this, you know. And you

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<v Speaker 2>know he would like a cigarette, and you know he was.

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<v Speaker 2>He had a favorite rocking chair that he like a

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<v Speaker 2>lounge chair he sat in when he listened to his records,

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<v Speaker 2>and he would sit way down his back was almost

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<v Speaker 2>on the bottom of the chair, and his knees would

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<v Speaker 2>wiggle and he would talk to the record as it

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<v Speaker 2>was playing. He'd be like, yeah, baby, who listen to that?

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<v Speaker 2>You hear you here with Miles is putting down baby,

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<v Speaker 2>you know. So he was always so comical. How could

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<v Speaker 2>you turn down? You know what I'm saying. I said,

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<v Speaker 2>if jazz makes him that cool, I want to be

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<v Speaker 2>like him. So that's what got me in there. Now,

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<v Speaker 2>where'd you grew up a part of the county? You

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<v Speaker 2>were in Philly. You're in Philly, you know.

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<v Speaker 1>For me, I grew up with that music, you know,

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<v Speaker 1>British Invasion, all that stuff in the seventies and Pink

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<v Speaker 1>Floyd whatever. And then, as I told people on this show,

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<v Speaker 1>because I'm a big classical music junkie, I was in

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<v Speaker 1>a car once in nineteen eighty six, I think it was,

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<v Speaker 1>and I turned on the radio, and you know, all

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<v Speaker 1>the popular music that was playing at that.

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<v Speaker 2>Time ceased to speak to me.

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<v Speaker 1>Right, So I turn on the radio and on comes

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<v Speaker 1>SCHALTI conducted the Chicago that we were doing them all

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<v Speaker 1>or ninth and I go down that rabbit hole of

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<v Speaker 1>classical music forever and the same with jazz. When I

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<v Speaker 1>saw Fosse's movie, I just was like, you know, the

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<v Speaker 1>mathematics of jazz. Jazz to me is mathematical. Are jazz

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<v Speaker 1>compositions written and scored like regular music, like any other music?

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<v Speaker 2>Some of them are. You know, jazz is based on improvisation,

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<v Speaker 2>but there is a there's very much a form to it.

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<v Speaker 2>For example, most pop songs have a very strict structure,

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<v Speaker 2>you know, verse, verse course, verse course, bridge, verse course.

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<v Speaker 2>You know, whereas jazz, you get a melody with the

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<v Speaker 2>set of chord changes. You play that melody with those

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<v Speaker 2>chord changes. Now, once you do that, you have a

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<v Speaker 2>conversation based on that melody and those chord changes. So

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<v Speaker 2>it's kind of like giving someone a topic and say, okay,

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<v Speaker 2>talk about this. I don't really know what I'm going

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<v Speaker 2>to say, but you know enough about this subject that

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<v Speaker 2>you can just have an open conversation about it. So

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<v Speaker 2>that's what jazz is for me.

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<v Speaker 1>When I listen to different types of jazz, I mean,

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<v Speaker 1>there's jazz I find very soothing. Obviously piano. I'm a

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<v Speaker 1>huge Oscar Peterson nut soundtracks of movies you mentioned cab

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<v Speaker 1>Caliwaight Nose sequences and cotton Club. But then there's jazz

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<v Speaker 1>that is like, you know, I got no idea.

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<v Speaker 2>Where we goes that way. Yeah, it goes that way.

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<v Speaker 2>What you said, It goes that way.

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<v Speaker 1>And these guys are playing then you're going and you know,

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<v Speaker 1>I feel like they're going to play until they just drop.

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<v Speaker 1>There's no end to the song. I feel they're going

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<v Speaker 1>to play until they just pass out. Is it always

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<v Speaker 1>was twas?

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<v Speaker 2>Ever?

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<v Speaker 1>Thus was a jazz always like that? Or has it

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<v Speaker 1>evolved over time which was much more freeform?

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<v Speaker 2>Definitely evolved before. Actually before I answered that. Knowing that

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<v Speaker 2>you're a big Oscar Peterson, you might want to know

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<v Speaker 2>that my godfather was the late great Ray Brown. Oh yeah,

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<v Speaker 2>I actually have one of his basses. Oh my god.

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah yeah, so Ray lives with me every day, and

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<v Speaker 2>therefore some of the's Oscar. But it has evolved big time.

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<v Speaker 2>You know. One beautiful thing is a built in challenge

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<v Speaker 2>with jazz because no one's ever played jazz to get

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<v Speaker 2>rich or famous. We play it because we love it.

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<v Speaker 2>It's the highest form of musical artistry, and that you

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<v Speaker 2>get to bring all of these things in one place

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<v Speaker 2>and interpret it through this lens. Of what we call jazz,

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<v Speaker 2>you know, this this swing based blues idiom. You know.

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<v Speaker 2>But in the sixties, when people like on that Coleman

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<v Speaker 2>and Cecil Taylor and Coltrane left Miles Davis's band, he

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<v Speaker 2>starts to evolve on his own. The music took this

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<v Speaker 2>extremely cataclysmic explosion where like it was turned into free

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<v Speaker 2>jazz or what some would call avant garde, meaning that

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<v Speaker 2>you have a form, but you don't actually have to

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<v Speaker 2>stick to that form anymore. You know, if the song

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<v Speaker 2>is twelve bars, well, once we start improvising, let's making

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<v Speaker 2>thirteen bars. Let's making fourteen bars. Now the challenge is

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<v Speaker 2>that that's a lot of fun for the musicians, but

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<v Speaker 2>sometimes the listener is going, what the hell are you

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<v Speaker 2>people doing? Right?

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<v Speaker 1>You guys have a lot of fun on glad, I'm

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<v Speaker 1>glad you're enjoying this. And so who would you say

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<v Speaker 1>were some of the pioneers there? Rather in terms of

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<v Speaker 1>the changes, like who is a person that came along

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<v Speaker 1>and click there's a change?

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<v Speaker 2>Well, I think most people would say on that Coleman

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<v Speaker 2>was sort of like the definition, like he was the

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<v Speaker 2>demarcation point in you know what Miles Davis and Harras

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<v Speaker 2>Silver and blaking the jazz messengers were doing up until

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<v Speaker 2>the late fifties, and then Ornett came along and just

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<v Speaker 2>kind of really shook the tree and like you know,

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<v Speaker 2>he calls the stir when he came on the scene.

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<v Speaker 2>So most would say Ornette Coleman was sort of like

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<v Speaker 2>the godfather of free jazz.

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<v Speaker 1>What I notice is that when I read about because

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<v Speaker 1>you seem like a very robust, physically fit, healthy man,

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<v Speaker 1>and I wonder, what is it about jazz that No

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<v Speaker 1>more so than the rock and roll world, but for sure,

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<v Speaker 1>but a lot of the people in that world were

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<v Speaker 1>very troubled. People like Bill Evans is somebody that I

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<v Speaker 1>was obsessed with, and I got all the Bill Evans

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<v Speaker 1>records I could, and Evan singing with Tony Bennett.

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<v Speaker 2>But I love Bill Evans, and I found.

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<v Speaker 1>That that his life was horrible when he was like

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<v Speaker 1>a huge he was a heroin Annet and all this

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<v Speaker 1>other stuff, and Miles was all messed up.

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<v Speaker 2>I mean not saying that the jazz plays.

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<v Speaker 1>Into that or any more so than rock and roll, right,

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<v Speaker 1>but to this day, do you find there's a spirit,

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<v Speaker 1>there's a soul to the people that can play that music, well,

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<v Speaker 1>that's a tormented soul.

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<v Speaker 2>I don't know if that's a myth or a fact,

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<v Speaker 2>because just like you said, I mean, you can find

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<v Speaker 2>just as many musicians in any other style of music

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<v Speaker 2>that had a lot of personal problems, you know. But

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<v Speaker 2>I feel like the way jazz has been probably inside

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<v Speaker 2>the last half century, you find less of that now

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<v Speaker 2>than ever now. On the other hand, one of the

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<v Speaker 2>great legends who I played with early in my career

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<v Speaker 2>was the late great trumper to Freddie Hubbard, and I

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<v Speaker 2>remember Freddie. He told this to my friend Clark Gaton,

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<v Speaker 2>great trumpbone player. He says, see, man, you know what's

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<v Speaker 2>wrong with you young cats? Y'all. Don't drink y'all, don't

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<v Speaker 2>smoke y'all, don't eat meat y'all, health conscience by nine o'clock. Man,

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<v Speaker 2>what the hell is that? Man? You know what you

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<v Speaker 2>sound like it?

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<v Speaker 1>Harold Klerman spoke at this school when I went back

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<v Speaker 1>to school, and he did this lecture there, the famous

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<v Speaker 1>producer Harold Cleerman. And when it was over they someone

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<v Speaker 1>said to me, what would you do differently? And by

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<v Speaker 1>then he was in his eighties, what would I do differently?

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<v Speaker 1>He said, I'd go to more parties, I'd stay out

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<v Speaker 1>late at night, I'd have more alcohol.

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<v Speaker 2>He just was like, so balls to the wall.

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<v Speaker 1>Now, is it tough in the I mean people in

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<v Speaker 1>the classical world, people in every corner of the music

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<v Speaker 1>business are lamenting the difficulty with digital downloads?

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<v Speaker 2>Is it? Is it tough in jazz as well? Obviously?

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<v Speaker 2>Well it was so tough before then. I don't know

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<v Speaker 2>if it really hasn't mattered that much. You know, because

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<v Speaker 2>even before streaming came along, both jazz and classical musicians

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<v Speaker 2>had the smallest piece of the pie. I think it

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<v Speaker 2>was like one percent and three percent of the entire

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<v Speaker 2>record buying market. So, you know, all of our money

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<v Speaker 2>comes from playing live performances. When do you first go

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<v Speaker 2>on the road. When are you in a club and

0:11:51.920 --> 0:11:52.720
<v Speaker 2>you're getting paid?

0:11:52.920 --> 0:11:53.120
<v Speaker 3>Yeah?

0:11:53.400 --> 0:11:56.600
<v Speaker 2>When did that happen? Nineteen eighty nine. I graduated from

0:11:56.640 --> 0:11:59.080
<v Speaker 2>high school and by that time I had become good

0:11:59.120 --> 0:12:03.160
<v Speaker 2>friends with when Marcellus, who was the hottest young name

0:12:03.360 --> 0:12:05.520
<v Speaker 2>in jazz, and you met him where I met him

0:12:05.520 --> 0:12:09.160
<v Speaker 2>in Philly. He came to do a masterclass and I

0:12:09.160 --> 0:12:11.200
<v Speaker 2>attended this master class, and you know, I told him

0:12:11.240 --> 0:12:13.360
<v Speaker 2>how much I admired his music, and I had all

0:12:13.400 --> 0:12:15.320
<v Speaker 2>of his records and he kind of put me on

0:12:15.360 --> 0:12:17.480
<v Speaker 2>the spot. He says, yeah, what do you play? I said,

0:12:17.480 --> 0:12:20.120
<v Speaker 2>I played a bass. He said go get it, and

0:12:20.200 --> 0:12:22.760
<v Speaker 2>so I ran and grabbed my bass and all the

0:12:22.840 --> 0:12:25.200
<v Speaker 2>kids in the classroom were like, ooh, you know, what's

0:12:25.240 --> 0:12:27.400
<v Speaker 2>he about to do? And so went and said let's

0:12:27.400 --> 0:12:31.000
<v Speaker 2>play something and we played a little blues. And a

0:12:31.040 --> 0:12:33.040
<v Speaker 2>couple of nights later he said, Hey, my band is

0:12:33.040 --> 0:12:35.480
<v Speaker 2>playing at the Academy Music. I want you to come

0:12:35.840 --> 0:12:42.559
<v Speaker 2>and sold fifteen yeah and playing with Wynton at the

0:12:42.640 --> 0:12:46.199
<v Speaker 2>Academy of Music at fifteen yeah. Well he just invited

0:12:46.240 --> 0:12:47.880
<v Speaker 2>me to the show. I didn't know he was going

0:12:47.960 --> 0:12:49.959
<v Speaker 2>to actually invite me to come. He didn't tell you

0:12:50.040 --> 0:12:51.800
<v Speaker 2>that you were going to play. No, he didn't come

0:12:51.800 --> 0:12:54.480
<v Speaker 2>to see the show man. I'm sitting backstage with two

0:12:54.520 --> 0:12:56.760
<v Speaker 2>of my friends, one of which was the late great

0:12:56.840 --> 0:13:00.360
<v Speaker 2>Joey D. Francesco. And went and gets on a micro phone.

0:13:00.480 --> 0:13:02.840
<v Speaker 2>I see his bass player is putting us bass down

0:13:03.640 --> 0:13:06.520
<v Speaker 2>and my feet start getting like, where's he going? And

0:13:06.559 --> 0:13:08.360
<v Speaker 2>went and gets on the microphone. He says, you know,

0:13:08.440 --> 0:13:09.920
<v Speaker 2>ladies and John want to tell you about this kid

0:13:09.960 --> 0:13:12.080
<v Speaker 2>I met at this masterclass a couple of days ago,

0:13:12.880 --> 0:13:16.560
<v Speaker 2>like what and you know, two thousand people in the audience,

0:13:16.600 --> 0:13:17.720
<v Speaker 2>you know, he said, I think you're going to be

0:13:17.720 --> 0:13:20.280
<v Speaker 2>hearing a lot more about him. Please welcome Christian McBride

0:13:20.280 --> 0:13:23.600
<v Speaker 2>to the stage. And I mean, like I had icicles

0:13:23.600 --> 0:13:27.240
<v Speaker 2>coming off of my hands, like, oh my god. And

0:13:27.400 --> 0:13:30.080
<v Speaker 2>we played what was the title track to his new

0:13:30.120 --> 0:13:59.280
<v Speaker 2>album at that time. It's called Jay Mood. And from

0:13:59.360 --> 0:14:02.960
<v Speaker 2>that point on he became a big brother, a mentor.

0:14:03.120 --> 0:14:05.120
<v Speaker 2>He started telling people about me, say, hey, you got

0:14:05.160 --> 0:14:07.360
<v Speaker 2>to look out for this kid in Philly. And so

0:14:07.400 --> 0:14:09.560
<v Speaker 2>by the time I moved to New York to go

0:14:09.600 --> 0:14:12.880
<v Speaker 2>to college, a few jazz musicians knew who I was.

0:14:13.040 --> 0:14:16.280
<v Speaker 2>So the saxophonist Bobby Watson found out that I was

0:14:16.280 --> 0:14:19.120
<v Speaker 2>going to Juilliard and he came and said, hey, I

0:14:19.160 --> 0:14:20.760
<v Speaker 2>want you to make some gigs with me. I was like,

0:14:21.040 --> 0:14:23.920
<v Speaker 2>what you know? So Bobby gave me my first gig

0:14:24.680 --> 0:14:26.560
<v Speaker 2>in New York and I was in the fall of

0:14:26.640 --> 0:14:29.200
<v Speaker 2>nineteen eighty nine at Birdland back when it was up

0:14:29.240 --> 0:14:32.360
<v Speaker 2>on one hundred and fifth Street. So Bobby kind of

0:14:32.520 --> 0:14:35.040
<v Speaker 2>he kicked me off my career in New York.

0:14:35.680 --> 0:14:38.280
<v Speaker 1>Now when you talk about you guys don't pick it up.

0:14:38.280 --> 0:14:40.440
<v Speaker 1>You don't see Freddie Hubart, Freddy Hubbert. So when you

0:14:40.440 --> 0:14:43.000
<v Speaker 1>get Freddy Hubbard's admonition that you're not living the right life,

0:14:43.040 --> 0:14:45.360
<v Speaker 1>what was it like for you to be that young around.

0:14:45.000 --> 0:14:48.600
<v Speaker 2>These guys, Well, specific was your mother picking you up

0:14:48.640 --> 0:14:50.160
<v Speaker 2>at the stage door at the end of the show.

0:14:50.200 --> 0:14:55.560
<v Speaker 2>She was definitely worried, you know, because my mother saw

0:14:55.640 --> 0:14:58.280
<v Speaker 2>all the musicians that my dad played with, and they

0:14:58.400 --> 0:15:00.720
<v Speaker 2>come from their old school. So when I told my

0:15:00.720 --> 0:15:03.120
<v Speaker 2>mom I wanted to be a professional jazz musician, She's like,

0:15:03.240 --> 0:15:10.920
<v Speaker 2>oh god, you know, really you sure? You know? So Winton,

0:15:11.360 --> 0:15:14.400
<v Speaker 2>because he was so well studied. He was sort of

0:15:14.440 --> 0:15:17.080
<v Speaker 2>like the complete opposite of what the image of a

0:15:17.120 --> 0:15:18.280
<v Speaker 2>jazz musician had been.

0:15:18.320 --> 0:15:18.440
<v Speaker 1>You know.

0:15:18.480 --> 0:15:21.360
<v Speaker 2>He didn't drink, he didn't smoke, he was clean, well studied,

0:15:21.360 --> 0:15:24.880
<v Speaker 2>well read. He actually had a conversation with my mom said, listen,

0:15:25.280 --> 0:15:27.840
<v Speaker 2>miss McBride, it's not like it used to be. You know,

0:15:28.080 --> 0:15:30.040
<v Speaker 2>your son's going to be all right. You know, I'll

0:15:30.040 --> 0:15:31.360
<v Speaker 2>look out for him. He's got a lot of big

0:15:31.400 --> 0:15:34.280
<v Speaker 2>brothers who look out for him, you know. So he talked.

0:15:34.440 --> 0:15:36.440
<v Speaker 2>He made it easier for my mom to let me

0:15:36.520 --> 0:15:39.320
<v Speaker 2>move to New York. But when I started playing with

0:15:39.360 --> 0:15:42.160
<v Speaker 2>Freddie actually a little bit of Bobby Watson too, there

0:15:42.240 --> 0:15:44.760
<v Speaker 2>was still a lot of that old school element, you know,

0:15:44.800 --> 0:15:47.240
<v Speaker 2>a lot of tough love. You know. They didn't put

0:15:47.280 --> 0:15:50.040
<v Speaker 2>their hand on your back and say, you know, next time,

0:15:50.120 --> 0:15:52.280
<v Speaker 2>maybe you should do it like this. You know, they

0:15:52.280 --> 0:15:54.440
<v Speaker 2>were like, hey, what the hell are you doing? Yeah,

0:15:54.520 --> 0:15:55.640
<v Speaker 2>you know it's professional.

0:15:55.760 --> 0:16:03.920
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, yeah, Jazz Babs, Christian McBride. If you enjoy conversations

0:16:04.320 --> 0:16:08.680
<v Speaker 1>with preternaturally gifted musicians, check out my episode with Christian

0:16:08.760 --> 0:16:13.080
<v Speaker 1>McBride's band and classmate Amir quest Love Thompson.

0:16:13.680 --> 0:16:17.520
<v Speaker 4>We weren't even really going to accept the position, and

0:16:17.560 --> 0:16:19.040
<v Speaker 4>then the funniest thing happened.

0:16:19.120 --> 0:16:20.600
<v Speaker 2>We were on UCLA campus.

0:16:21.040 --> 0:16:23.920
<v Speaker 4>I went to do a quick interview in my dressing room,

0:16:24.240 --> 0:16:26.760
<v Speaker 4>and when it was over six minutes later, I opened

0:16:26.800 --> 0:16:31.480
<v Speaker 4>the door and on the field, Grass, Jimmy and all

0:16:31.520 --> 0:16:34.680
<v Speaker 4>eight members of the Roots were in the eight is

0:16:34.840 --> 0:16:38.560
<v Speaker 4>Enough Human pyramid stands and I looked at my manager.

0:16:39.080 --> 0:16:42.160
<v Speaker 4>We just looked at each other and we're like, we're

0:16:42.160 --> 0:16:45.040
<v Speaker 4>not giving rim this guy, are we. What Jimmy managed

0:16:45.080 --> 0:16:48.560
<v Speaker 4>to do was disarm us in less than ten minutes.

0:16:48.960 --> 0:16:51.760
<v Speaker 4>He's that guy like when you watch the movie and

0:16:52.040 --> 0:16:54.440
<v Speaker 4>the guys are trying to dissemble the bomb in like

0:16:54.640 --> 0:16:59.040
<v Speaker 4>zero point three seconds. Yea, he knows exactly how to

0:16:59.160 --> 0:17:00.000
<v Speaker 4>disarm you.

0:17:01.040 --> 0:17:04.639
<v Speaker 1>To hear more of my conversation with Questlove, go to

0:17:04.760 --> 0:17:09.720
<v Speaker 1>Hear's Thething dot Org. After the break, Christian McBride talks

0:17:09.760 --> 0:17:14.400
<v Speaker 1>about attending Juilliard and the challenging audition period he endured

0:17:14.680 --> 0:17:23.199
<v Speaker 1>to get in. I'm Alec Baldwin and you're listening to

0:17:23.320 --> 0:17:49.680
<v Speaker 1>Here's the Thing. This is eley Efe from The Philadelphia Experiment,

0:17:50.160 --> 0:17:55.520
<v Speaker 1>a collaboration between Christian McBride, pianist Uri Kane and Questlove.

0:17:57.000 --> 0:18:00.760
<v Speaker 1>As a jazz musician, Christian McBride natural spends a lot

0:18:00.800 --> 0:18:03.159
<v Speaker 1>of time on the road. I wanted to know what

0:18:03.240 --> 0:18:07.440
<v Speaker 1>life was like for someone that tours for a living. Man.

0:18:07.640 --> 0:18:10.600
<v Speaker 2>I feel so fortunate that I get to do what

0:18:10.640 --> 0:18:13.760
<v Speaker 2>I love for a living. You know why complain? Yeah,

0:18:13.880 --> 0:18:15.639
<v Speaker 2>things get a little hard every now and then. You know,

0:18:15.680 --> 0:18:18.000
<v Speaker 2>you travel, you're on the road all the time. You

0:18:18.040 --> 0:18:21.520
<v Speaker 2>don't get to see your family. You're married. I've been

0:18:21.560 --> 0:18:23.920
<v Speaker 2>married almost twenty years and you have how many kids?

0:18:23.680 --> 0:18:28.639
<v Speaker 2>No kids? No kids, you're a genius. No kids.

0:18:28.640 --> 0:18:30.119
<v Speaker 1>So the traveler is does your wife get to come

0:18:30.160 --> 0:18:30.440
<v Speaker 1>with you.

0:18:30.400 --> 0:18:32.920
<v Speaker 2>Sometimes when she sings in my big band? So when

0:18:32.920 --> 0:18:35.000
<v Speaker 2>I play with my big band, she travels with me.

0:18:35.160 --> 0:18:38.360
<v Speaker 2>But I mean she runs the foundation, so she's manning

0:18:38.400 --> 0:18:43.040
<v Speaker 2>the fort at home. But you know, it's like going

0:18:43.080 --> 0:18:46.760
<v Speaker 2>on the road seven days a week, probably forty to

0:18:46.840 --> 0:18:49.280
<v Speaker 2>forty five weeks out of the year. That grinds on

0:18:49.359 --> 0:18:52.800
<v Speaker 2>your health, you know. But the flip side of it

0:18:52.880 --> 0:18:55.399
<v Speaker 2>is like, Okay, what else would you rather be doing?

0:18:55.560 --> 0:18:57.919
<v Speaker 2>You know, I get to travel around the world and

0:18:58.040 --> 0:19:01.040
<v Speaker 2>meet people and playing you know what I mean, It's like,

0:19:01.080 --> 0:19:03.000
<v Speaker 2>there's nothing better than that. How many people in your band?

0:19:03.520 --> 0:19:05.879
<v Speaker 2>So the band that I've been touring with the most

0:19:05.960 --> 0:19:08.240
<v Speaker 2>for the last four years is called the New John.

0:19:08.880 --> 0:19:14.639
<v Speaker 2>John is a slang terminology only used by Philadelphians in

0:19:14.720 --> 0:19:17.159
<v Speaker 2>New York would be joint. So John is j A

0:19:17.480 --> 0:19:22.879
<v Speaker 2>w N the New John joint yep exactly Philly term. Okay,

0:19:23.200 --> 0:19:26.520
<v Speaker 2>And so that's just four of us trumpet, tenor saxophone, bass,

0:19:26.600 --> 0:19:31.760
<v Speaker 2>and drums. Yeah. And I have another group called Inside Straight,

0:19:31.800 --> 0:19:35.520
<v Speaker 2>which is a quintet. That band was named by a

0:19:36.240 --> 0:19:39.240
<v Speaker 2>I had a fan contest I named the band contest,

0:19:39.840 --> 0:19:43.560
<v Speaker 2>and a couple from Fort bradd, California submitted inside Straight,

0:19:43.600 --> 0:19:46.360
<v Speaker 2>and I thought, hmm, you know, I actually do play poker,

0:19:46.880 --> 0:19:49.159
<v Speaker 2>and inside Straight is the name of one of my

0:19:49.160 --> 0:19:53.480
<v Speaker 2>favorite Cannibal Attley albums, so it made sense. And I

0:19:53.520 --> 0:19:55.440
<v Speaker 2>have a new group. I had my big band, which

0:19:55.480 --> 0:19:58.320
<v Speaker 2>is just the Christian McBride big band and comedy in

0:19:58.359 --> 0:20:03.240
<v Speaker 2>that seventeen really yeah, how much did they get to travel?

0:20:04.400 --> 0:20:08.360
<v Speaker 2>Not much? It's expensive. Yeah, yeah, we've gone to Asia.

0:20:08.480 --> 0:20:12.280
<v Speaker 2>We went to China and Japan, but we we got

0:20:12.280 --> 0:20:14.760
<v Speaker 2>a grant to go on that tour, and we did

0:20:14.760 --> 0:20:17.480
<v Speaker 2>a two week European tour a few few years ago.

0:20:17.520 --> 0:20:19.439
<v Speaker 2>So we don't get a chance to travel that often.

0:20:19.520 --> 0:20:22.720
<v Speaker 2>But we get at least one gig every year here

0:20:22.720 --> 0:20:25.520
<v Speaker 2>in New York or in Newark.

0:20:25.640 --> 0:20:29.800
<v Speaker 1>It's funny how the bands are touring, and therefore I

0:20:29.880 --> 0:20:32.480
<v Speaker 1>was more successful the less people are in the band.

0:20:32.560 --> 0:20:35.960
<v Speaker 2>Absolutely. Yeah, man, you gotta wat it down to a trio.

0:20:36.040 --> 0:20:38.679
<v Speaker 2>You're gonna get rich. Listen here, man, you gotta balance

0:20:38.720 --> 0:20:40.960
<v Speaker 2>their budget. Now.

0:20:41.480 --> 0:20:45.159
<v Speaker 1>When you are in Philadelphia and Winton calls you up

0:20:45.200 --> 0:20:49.040
<v Speaker 1>there at the Academy, when do you get to New

0:20:49.119 --> 0:20:49.760
<v Speaker 1>York what year?

0:20:50.240 --> 0:20:53.000
<v Speaker 2>So that was eighty seven when Winton called me up

0:20:53.000 --> 0:20:55.440
<v Speaker 2>to sit in So two years later in eighty to

0:20:55.480 --> 0:20:58.680
<v Speaker 2>go where the Juilliard. There was no jazz program at Juilliard.

0:20:58.720 --> 0:21:01.840
<v Speaker 2>When I went there, went to study as a classical bassist.

0:21:02.200 --> 0:21:04.160
<v Speaker 2>Because while I was in high school, I was also

0:21:04.240 --> 0:21:06.240
<v Speaker 2>playing a lot of classical music. So I was playing

0:21:06.240 --> 0:21:10.360
<v Speaker 2>in the Philadelphia Youth Orchestra, Temple University Youth Chamber Orchestra.

0:21:10.520 --> 0:21:13.960
<v Speaker 2>So I had like a little parallel thing going. And

0:21:14.040 --> 0:21:17.400
<v Speaker 2>even though my heart was in jazz, I had gotten

0:21:17.840 --> 0:21:21.000
<v Speaker 2>good enough at classical music where my base instructor said,

0:21:21.000 --> 0:21:23.560
<v Speaker 2>you know, you should take the audition. You know, see

0:21:23.600 --> 0:21:26.840
<v Speaker 2>what happens. I knew I wanted to be in New York. Again,

0:21:26.920 --> 0:21:28.960
<v Speaker 2>this was this had nothing to do with classical music.

0:21:28.960 --> 0:21:30.560
<v Speaker 2>I knew that I wanted to be in New York

0:21:31.040 --> 0:21:35.719
<v Speaker 2>because I wanted to sort of go nag and stalk

0:21:35.840 --> 0:21:38.679
<v Speaker 2>all my favorite jazz musicians. So I said, well, the

0:21:38.680 --> 0:21:40.080
<v Speaker 2>only way for me to get to New York is

0:21:40.119 --> 0:21:43.520
<v Speaker 2>to go to college. And so is that true, I thought, because.

0:21:43.359 --> 0:21:45.800
<v Speaker 1>You're the kid who's fifteen who gets hand picked by

0:21:45.840 --> 0:21:47.640
<v Speaker 1>Wynton to play I would.

0:21:47.400 --> 0:21:48.560
<v Speaker 2>Have thought you would have gone to New York and

0:21:48.560 --> 0:21:49.919
<v Speaker 2>you would have been walking through the doors and just

0:21:49.960 --> 0:21:52.680
<v Speaker 2>playing well, you know, but my mom wasn't going to

0:21:52.760 --> 0:21:57.119
<v Speaker 2>let that happen. So everybody agreed you should get an education, yes, yes,

0:21:57.600 --> 0:22:00.840
<v Speaker 2>And so I only applied to three schools, the New Schoo, Juilliard,

0:22:00.880 --> 0:22:05.000
<v Speaker 2>in the Manhattan School of Music exactly right, right, right.

0:22:05.480 --> 0:22:09.440
<v Speaker 2>So I took an audition for Juilliard, and uh, much

0:22:09.480 --> 0:22:11.760
<v Speaker 2>to my shock, I got in. You know, I think

0:22:11.840 --> 0:22:14.960
<v Speaker 2>back to how traumatic that was. And one of these

0:22:15.000 --> 0:22:18.360
<v Speaker 2>did that on purpose. Like one thing that they probably

0:22:18.359 --> 0:22:23.359
<v Speaker 2>shouldn't have done is you could hear the other auditioners

0:22:23.720 --> 0:22:27.960
<v Speaker 2>before you. Right, So I'm sitting outside of this audition

0:22:28.080 --> 0:22:30.440
<v Speaker 2>room and I can hear the other bass players in there,

0:22:30.480 --> 0:22:33.439
<v Speaker 2>and I mean they are awesome, you know. They're playing

0:22:33.880 --> 0:22:37.320
<v Speaker 2>the Echo Sonata and the Dragon Eddie and the Kusovitski

0:22:37.400 --> 0:22:40.119
<v Speaker 2>and I'm just sitting out there like, oh man, I

0:22:40.200 --> 0:22:43.000
<v Speaker 2>might as well go home because I'm not playing that.

0:22:43.400 --> 0:22:46.280
<v Speaker 2>You know. I went in with my little what did.

0:22:46.280 --> 0:22:49.400
<v Speaker 2>I played the Vivaldi Sonata and I played a Benidento

0:22:49.520 --> 0:22:53.639
<v Speaker 2>Marcello except from a sonata, and I just thought, just

0:22:53.680 --> 0:22:56.879
<v Speaker 2>in terms of repertoire. I probably won't get in, you know.

0:22:57.440 --> 0:23:00.679
<v Speaker 2>But I took this audition and uh, it went It

0:23:00.760 --> 0:23:03.399
<v Speaker 2>was okay. I didn't think it was that great. But

0:23:03.440 --> 0:23:06.680
<v Speaker 2>then two days later I auditioned for the Manhattan School

0:23:06.680 --> 0:23:10.280
<v Speaker 2>of Music. The bass faculty was almost exactly the same

0:23:10.320 --> 0:23:13.520
<v Speaker 2>faculty as the Juilliard, so they heard me again. And

0:23:13.560 --> 0:23:18.800
<v Speaker 2>that audition at MSM went really well, And so I

0:23:19.040 --> 0:23:21.920
<v Speaker 2>like to think that the bass faculty heard me and went, oh,

0:23:22.080 --> 0:23:24.119
<v Speaker 2>that's what he really sounds like, you know.

0:23:24.440 --> 0:23:27.439
<v Speaker 3>So there was no invitation to MSM. They got I

0:23:27.480 --> 0:23:30.040
<v Speaker 3>got invited, Yeah, you got him both. Yeah, And I

0:23:30.040 --> 0:23:33.440
<v Speaker 3>got into the new school. But I thought that if

0:23:33.480 --> 0:23:37.960
<v Speaker 3>I want to continue studying classical base, I should.

0:23:37.720 --> 0:23:40.639
<v Speaker 2>Go to Juilliard. Four years. I didn't make it, but

0:23:41.720 --> 0:23:44.720
<v Speaker 2>I left. I started working. I started playing with Bobby

0:23:44.800 --> 0:23:48.680
<v Speaker 2>Watson and my dear friend, the late Roy Hargrove had

0:23:48.760 --> 0:23:51.320
<v Speaker 2>just moved to New York as well, and his career

0:23:51.440 --> 0:23:53.520
<v Speaker 2>was about to explode. And Roy was like, hey, man,

0:23:53.560 --> 0:23:56.000
<v Speaker 2>you're coming on the road with me. And so by

0:23:56.040 --> 0:23:58.480
<v Speaker 2>the end of the school year I started working enough

0:23:58.520 --> 0:24:02.280
<v Speaker 2>that only one year, right, Yeah, but that one years

0:24:03.400 --> 0:24:06.120
<v Speaker 2>I learned so much and I met a lot of people.

0:24:06.119 --> 0:24:07.760
<v Speaker 2>Audra McDonald was my classmate.

0:24:08.359 --> 0:24:09.879
<v Speaker 1>You know, it's funny that you say that about the

0:24:10.200 --> 0:24:12.240
<v Speaker 1>blind audition or whatever and you hear the other guys

0:24:12.240 --> 0:24:14.280
<v Speaker 1>in the room, because I remember in the early days

0:24:14.280 --> 0:24:16.679
<v Speaker 1>when I was auditioning, it was the same. And that

0:24:16.760 --> 0:24:19.400
<v Speaker 1>was you know, we'd come to a place, the old

0:24:19.440 --> 0:24:21.920
<v Speaker 1>rehearsal spaces in Midtown where there were many of them,

0:24:22.280 --> 0:24:24.320
<v Speaker 1>not as many now as there used to be, and

0:24:24.359 --> 0:24:26.439
<v Speaker 1>we'd come to those spaces and when everybody would sit

0:24:26.480 --> 0:24:27.960
<v Speaker 1>in a row of chairs, and every guy you were

0:24:28.040 --> 0:24:30.440
<v Speaker 1>up against in that whole town was right right, there's

0:24:30.520 --> 0:24:32.640
<v Speaker 1>Kevin Bacon, and there's that guy, and there's that guy,

0:24:32.720 --> 0:24:35.000
<v Speaker 1>and they're all there and we all have the same thing,

0:24:35.040 --> 0:24:37.679
<v Speaker 1>which was when you sat down and the door opened

0:24:38.000 --> 0:24:41.240
<v Speaker 1>and out walked Kevin Bacon and you're sitting there and

0:24:41.800 --> 0:24:43.600
<v Speaker 1>you know that something's going on in the room. Somebody's

0:24:43.640 --> 0:24:45.920
<v Speaker 1>in there, and the door opens and it's Gabriel Burn.

0:24:47.320 --> 0:24:50.040
<v Speaker 1>I mean, all used to lower our heads like, fuck, I.

0:24:50.040 --> 0:24:53.080
<v Speaker 2>Get this job, right, did you guys, like when you're

0:24:53.080 --> 0:24:56.320
<v Speaker 2>sitting there waiting to go in, are you guys speaking

0:24:56.359 --> 0:24:58.200
<v Speaker 2>to each other? Was that sort of like minimally.

0:24:58.800 --> 0:25:02.440
<v Speaker 1>But what's interesting to me is I understand the benefits

0:25:02.480 --> 0:25:06.760
<v Speaker 1>of the digital audition online auditioning that people who can't

0:25:06.760 --> 0:25:09.000
<v Speaker 1>afford to come to LA they can't afford to come

0:25:09.000 --> 0:25:11.639
<v Speaker 1>to there. There's guys in Kansas City, and there's guys

0:25:11.680 --> 0:25:14.119
<v Speaker 1>in Salt Lake City, and men and women across the

0:25:14.160 --> 0:25:17.600
<v Speaker 1>country who were submitting, you know, digitally. But I said

0:25:17.600 --> 0:25:19.760
<v Speaker 1>to somebody, I go, you know, the reality was you

0:25:19.800 --> 0:25:22.320
<v Speaker 1>walked into a room and you do the audition, and

0:25:22.440 --> 0:25:26.840
<v Speaker 1>the casting directors who were prominent casting directors typically for

0:25:26.880 --> 0:25:28.720
<v Speaker 1>all these movies I was going up for back then,

0:25:29.600 --> 0:25:33.080
<v Speaker 1>they were casting multiple projects and they'd say to you,

0:25:33.080 --> 0:25:35.320
<v Speaker 1>would you wait outside please? And you learn later on

0:25:35.400 --> 0:25:37.320
<v Speaker 1>that they said, he's not right for this movie, but

0:25:37.359 --> 0:25:39.920
<v Speaker 1>he'd be great for what we were doing. And there

0:25:39.920 --> 0:25:42.520
<v Speaker 1>was a chemistry in the room that there's just denied

0:25:42.560 --> 0:25:46.000
<v Speaker 1>now that they've gotten rid of all the in person auditions, you.

0:25:46.000 --> 0:25:48.080
<v Speaker 2>Know, with social media now, I mean, I realize this

0:25:48.200 --> 0:25:49.760
<v Speaker 2>the way of the world now and it's not going

0:25:49.800 --> 0:25:54.400
<v Speaker 2>to change. But I meet young musicians and mister McBride,

0:25:54.400 --> 0:25:55.960
<v Speaker 2>you know, check me out, tell me what you think,

0:25:56.000 --> 0:25:58.720
<v Speaker 2>and they give me like a YouTube link and I

0:25:58.840 --> 0:26:02.359
<v Speaker 2>hear and see them on YouTube and it's fabulous, but

0:26:02.720 --> 0:26:06.399
<v Speaker 2>you get no energy. You can't really tell what it's like,

0:26:06.680 --> 0:26:09.479
<v Speaker 2>you know what I mean, I got it exactly. You know.

0:26:09.680 --> 0:26:13.320
<v Speaker 2>Tommy Lupuma used to make great producer, Tommy Lupuma who

0:26:13.440 --> 0:26:18.240
<v Speaker 2>he produced Natalie Cole, George Benson, Algiou, Diana Crawl. He

0:26:18.320 --> 0:26:19.959
<v Speaker 2>used to tell me all the time. He's like, you know,

0:26:20.200 --> 0:26:23.840
<v Speaker 2>as a record producer, every day I'm getting thousands of

0:26:23.920 --> 0:26:26.159
<v Speaker 2>cassette tapes. You know. I was like, oh man, that

0:26:26.600 --> 0:26:30.920
<v Speaker 2>sounds horrible, you know, And he said, but I will

0:26:30.960 --> 0:26:34.240
<v Speaker 2>not sign a singer unless I can experience him live,

0:26:34.280 --> 0:26:36.400
<v Speaker 2>because I want to feel what they're doing. I don't

0:26:36.400 --> 0:26:38.280
<v Speaker 2>want to hear what they're doing. Say, you know, anybody

0:26:38.520 --> 0:26:40.240
<v Speaker 2>can get in the studio and doctor it up a

0:26:40.240 --> 0:26:42.359
<v Speaker 2>little bit and sound good. I want to hear you live,

0:26:43.000 --> 0:26:46.480
<v Speaker 2>you know. So yeah, the whole digital thing, it's it's deep.

0:26:46.320 --> 0:26:53.560
<v Speaker 1>Now, Christian McBride. If you're enjoying this episode, don't keep

0:26:53.560 --> 0:26:56.560
<v Speaker 1>it to yourself, Tell a friend and be sure to

0:26:56.640 --> 0:27:00.199
<v Speaker 1>follow us on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts or or

0:27:00.600 --> 0:27:05.399
<v Speaker 1>wherever you get your podcasts when we return. Christian McBride

0:27:05.440 --> 0:27:09.400
<v Speaker 1>shares the most challenging part of being a professional musician

0:27:09.600 --> 0:27:14.000
<v Speaker 1>and bandleader. You can listen to all of the music

0:27:14.080 --> 0:27:17.960
<v Speaker 1>from this episode and more in a curated playlist of

0:27:17.960 --> 0:27:21.560
<v Speaker 1>my favorite pieces from Christian McBride. You'll find a link

0:27:21.600 --> 0:27:31.960
<v Speaker 1>to the playlist in the show notes of this episode.

0:27:39.880 --> 0:28:08.640
<v Speaker 1>I'm Alec Baldwin and this is Here's the thing. This

0:28:08.800 --> 0:28:13.280
<v Speaker 1>is Christian McBride's new John. The track is Obsequious from

0:28:13.320 --> 0:28:18.240
<v Speaker 1>the album Prime. Christian McBride studied at Juilliard for only

0:28:18.280 --> 0:28:21.280
<v Speaker 1>one year before he left to play on the road

0:28:21.359 --> 0:28:25.120
<v Speaker 1>with jazz trumpeter Roy Hargrove. I wanted to know how

0:28:25.200 --> 0:28:29.800
<v Speaker 1>his very first professional touring experience suited him.

0:28:30.320 --> 0:28:32.639
<v Speaker 2>Oh man, We went to Europe and it was the

0:28:32.640 --> 0:28:36.000
<v Speaker 2>summer of nineteen ninety. Now, I had gone to Europe

0:28:36.040 --> 0:28:39.600
<v Speaker 2>the summer before with the Philadelphia Youth Orchestra, but it's

0:28:39.600 --> 0:28:42.080
<v Speaker 2>hard to count that as my first tour because you know,

0:28:42.120 --> 0:28:44.200
<v Speaker 2>it was a bunch of other high school students and

0:28:44.280 --> 0:28:46.120
<v Speaker 2>my mom was one of the chaperone. It was a

0:28:46.160 --> 0:28:48.040
<v Speaker 2>school trailer. It was a school trailer. We used to

0:28:48.040 --> 0:28:51.640
<v Speaker 2>say it right, right, But my first time actually getting

0:28:51.680 --> 0:28:54.480
<v Speaker 2>a chance to see the world was with Roy Hargrove,

0:28:54.520 --> 0:28:57.200
<v Speaker 2>how long were you over there that first tour? We did?

0:28:57.440 --> 0:29:00.440
<v Speaker 2>You know, I played in this band for a year

0:29:00.480 --> 0:29:02.560
<v Speaker 2>and a half and we did like we were in

0:29:02.600 --> 0:29:06.160
<v Speaker 2>Europe all the time. We did one month long European tour,

0:29:06.360 --> 0:29:09.520
<v Speaker 2>came home, did like six weeks of gigs in the US,

0:29:09.560 --> 0:29:12.320
<v Speaker 2>and then we went back to Europe for another two weeks.

0:29:12.320 --> 0:29:15.400
<v Speaker 2>So we were always on the road. When you're with a.

0:29:15.440 --> 0:29:18.880
<v Speaker 1>Band and you're a musician in a band, and you

0:29:18.960 --> 0:29:22.360
<v Speaker 1>say you went out with Roy Hargrove's band, so that

0:29:22.440 --> 0:29:26.520
<v Speaker 1>means Hargrove's the decider. Yeah, what music is played, what

0:29:26.640 --> 0:29:29.320
<v Speaker 1>the set list is, and for you it's the same thing.

0:29:29.480 --> 0:29:29.960
<v Speaker 2>Oh yeah.

0:29:30.000 --> 0:29:33.240
<v Speaker 1>What's the toughest part about leading a band? What's the challenge?

0:29:34.240 --> 0:29:37.600
<v Speaker 2>I think there's a balance in particularly in a medium

0:29:37.680 --> 0:29:42.480
<v Speaker 2>like jazz. You hear a musician play and they do

0:29:42.560 --> 0:29:45.240
<v Speaker 2>something that you like. There's a certain energy, there's a

0:29:45.240 --> 0:29:48.400
<v Speaker 2>certain thing that they play that you like. You said,

0:29:48.440 --> 0:29:52.000
<v Speaker 2>I want that in my band. But I know some

0:29:52.080 --> 0:29:57.960
<v Speaker 2>band leaders that they like to rebuild a player. I'm

0:29:58.000 --> 0:30:01.240
<v Speaker 2>not sure how wise that is, you know, because it's

0:30:01.280 --> 0:30:04.400
<v Speaker 2>like I hear you you're great, and now let me

0:30:04.520 --> 0:30:07.360
<v Speaker 2>change you, you know. So I think there's a balance

0:30:07.560 --> 0:30:11.040
<v Speaker 2>in the van leader having a vision, having a certain

0:30:11.120 --> 0:30:14.320
<v Speaker 2>sound in their mind, and then you bring somebody in

0:30:14.480 --> 0:30:16.800
<v Speaker 2>to help you achieve that sound, but you like what

0:30:16.840 --> 0:30:19.720
<v Speaker 2>they bring. So there's this give and take of like

0:30:19.800 --> 0:30:21.280
<v Speaker 2>I like what you do, but I need you to

0:30:21.320 --> 0:30:23.920
<v Speaker 2>do this, you know, and then that person says okay,

0:30:24.400 --> 0:30:27.520
<v Speaker 2>and then there's like this give and take. I don't

0:30:27.520 --> 0:30:29.920
<v Speaker 2>know if there's so much of a challenge anymore, because

0:30:29.960 --> 0:30:33.080
<v Speaker 2>I tend to work with musicians who are really high

0:30:33.200 --> 0:30:37.520
<v Speaker 2>level professionals. I haven't really had any rubs with too

0:30:37.560 --> 0:30:41.600
<v Speaker 2>many musicians, but that's probably the biggest challenge pat Riley.

0:30:41.640 --> 0:30:44.760
<v Speaker 1>I've mentioned this before another podcast. When pat Riley was

0:30:44.800 --> 0:30:47.080
<v Speaker 1>coaching the Knicks, I went off to have lunch with

0:30:47.120 --> 0:30:48.520
<v Speaker 1>him because we were going to do a movie this

0:30:48.560 --> 0:30:51.080
<v Speaker 1>friend of mine and I about a professional basketball coach

0:30:51.680 --> 0:30:54.040
<v Speaker 1>and the intensity of the NBA. And we went to

0:30:54.120 --> 0:30:56.760
<v Speaker 1>lunch with Riley and we watched the next train up

0:30:56.800 --> 0:30:59.080
<v Speaker 1>in was it New Paul's wherever they were up outside

0:30:59.080 --> 0:31:01.200
<v Speaker 1>the city. That we ran up there and watched the

0:31:01.360 --> 0:31:03.640
<v Speaker 1>next train, which was kind of amazing, and then we

0:31:03.680 --> 0:31:06.000
<v Speaker 1>went to lunch with Riley and I said, what's the job?

0:31:06.240 --> 0:31:08.480
<v Speaker 1>I said, what's the challenge? He said, These guys have

0:31:08.600 --> 0:31:12.200
<v Speaker 1>been champions at every level of their life. They've been winners,

0:31:12.240 --> 0:31:15.160
<v Speaker 1>they've been champions. He said, They've been champions since they

0:31:15.160 --> 0:31:19.320
<v Speaker 1>were eight years old, high school, college, they get to

0:31:19.320 --> 0:31:21.080
<v Speaker 1>the pros, He goes, how do I get them to

0:31:21.240 --> 0:31:22.560
<v Speaker 1>care one more night?

0:31:23.160 --> 0:31:24.320
<v Speaker 2>Right? See, that's the job.

0:31:24.320 --> 0:31:27.480
<v Speaker 1>They've been playing at the highest level for fifteen years.

0:31:27.440 --> 0:31:29.640
<v Speaker 1>Because now they're here, they getting millions of dollars, they're

0:31:29.640 --> 0:31:31.880
<v Speaker 1>famous around the world. He goes, how do I get

0:31:31.880 --> 0:31:34.160
<v Speaker 1>them to leave it all on the court and get

0:31:34.160 --> 0:31:35.960
<v Speaker 1>out there and just blut and really work hard.

0:31:36.360 --> 0:31:39.680
<v Speaker 2>I think that's a challenge for a musicians. Yeah, because

0:31:39.720 --> 0:31:41.840
<v Speaker 2>you know, you travel all the time, and you go

0:31:41.920 --> 0:31:45.280
<v Speaker 2>from club to club, stage to stage. At some point

0:31:45.320 --> 0:31:47.360
<v Speaker 2>it might get a little blurry, you know, you're like, oh,

0:31:47.400 --> 0:31:50.360
<v Speaker 2>I'm tired, you know, and then you fall into that

0:31:50.520 --> 0:31:54.600
<v Speaker 2>danger of phoning it in, you know. And I said,

0:31:54.600 --> 0:31:57.240
<v Speaker 2>another challenge for me as a band leader, I need

0:31:57.280 --> 0:32:00.040
<v Speaker 2>to keep my energy up because I always tell you

0:32:00.040 --> 0:32:03.000
<v Speaker 2>younger musicians you need to follow the lead of the

0:32:03.040 --> 0:32:07.600
<v Speaker 2>band leader. If the band leader is in a certain mode,

0:32:07.760 --> 0:32:10.120
<v Speaker 2>you follow that you know what I mean. So like

0:32:10.880 --> 0:32:15.280
<v Speaker 2>if I'm in somebody else's band and they're ready to go,

0:32:15.480 --> 0:32:17.600
<v Speaker 2>and then I don't have the right to say, you know,

0:32:17.680 --> 0:32:20.040
<v Speaker 2>I'm tired. I don't really feel like putting it all

0:32:20.080 --> 0:32:22.480
<v Speaker 2>out there tonight. I look at somebody like Michael Jordan.

0:32:22.600 --> 0:32:25.240
<v Speaker 2>I look at somebody like Freddie Hubbard. You know, like

0:32:25.280 --> 0:32:28.320
<v Speaker 2>every time they gave it all every gig, whether there

0:32:28.400 --> 0:32:31.240
<v Speaker 2>was thirty people in the audience, three hundred or three thousand,

0:32:31.240 --> 0:32:33.480
<v Speaker 2>they played the same way every night.

0:32:33.600 --> 0:32:33.800
<v Speaker 3>You know.

0:32:33.960 --> 0:32:36.880
<v Speaker 2>Oscar Peterson was like that, you know, just give it

0:32:36.920 --> 0:32:37.920
<v Speaker 2>all all the time.

0:32:38.120 --> 0:32:39.680
<v Speaker 1>Now, do you write a lot of this? Do you

0:32:39.680 --> 0:32:42.640
<v Speaker 1>write something? And have you ever because again, this connection

0:32:42.760 --> 0:32:47.600
<v Speaker 1>between jazz and the movies, it creates the right it's

0:32:47.640 --> 0:32:51.200
<v Speaker 1>the right texture. Do you write for TV or film?

0:32:51.200 --> 0:32:52.840
<v Speaker 2>Ever? Do you ever do any saying? I did my

0:32:53.000 --> 0:32:56.600
<v Speaker 2>first work on a major motion picture. Just recently. I

0:32:56.600 --> 0:32:58.760
<v Speaker 2>wrote some of the big band music in the upcoming

0:32:58.840 --> 0:33:02.320
<v Speaker 2>Color Purple doing a remake, Yeah, coming out on Christmas Day.

0:33:02.720 --> 0:33:04.719
<v Speaker 2>I wanted to ask you, man, like being around all

0:33:04.760 --> 0:33:07.920
<v Speaker 2>these great jazz legends and being like the young kid

0:33:08.000 --> 0:33:10.880
<v Speaker 2>among all these giants. One of my all time favorite

0:33:10.880 --> 0:33:14.520
<v Speaker 2>movies is Glengarry Glenn Ross and man, when I see

0:33:14.520 --> 0:33:17.760
<v Speaker 2>you in that? And also the music for that film

0:33:17.840 --> 0:33:20.720
<v Speaker 2>is one of the few film scores, if not the only,

0:33:20.760 --> 0:33:24.040
<v Speaker 2>one that features the saxophone of Wayne Shorter. And so

0:33:24.120 --> 0:33:26.080
<v Speaker 2>I remember, so I already liked the movie, but then

0:33:26.120 --> 0:33:28.600
<v Speaker 2>I realized that was Wayne. So that's become like one

0:33:28.680 --> 0:33:31.920
<v Speaker 2>of my all time favorites. Man, what was that like

0:33:32.000 --> 0:33:32.560
<v Speaker 2>for you? Man?

0:33:32.640 --> 0:33:34.960
<v Speaker 1>Well, it was tough because I had to piss in

0:33:35.000 --> 0:33:37.360
<v Speaker 1>their face for three days. I mean, are all these

0:33:37.440 --> 0:33:40.840
<v Speaker 1>legendary actors that I loved, right, And it was really tough,

0:33:40.840 --> 0:33:41.960
<v Speaker 1>But I mean I had a job to do.

0:33:42.120 --> 0:33:42.560
<v Speaker 2>Yeah.

0:33:42.800 --> 0:33:45.400
<v Speaker 1>My last question for you, and that is that you

0:33:45.400 --> 0:33:48.360
<v Speaker 1>have a pre show routine, Like how do you get

0:33:48.400 --> 0:33:53.120
<v Speaker 1>yourself clear? When I'm acting in the theater? I got

0:33:53.120 --> 0:33:54.800
<v Speaker 1>to get clear. I get the theater at six.

0:33:54.920 --> 0:33:57.560
<v Speaker 2>I'm glad you asked me that. What's your routine? See?

0:33:57.680 --> 0:34:00.719
<v Speaker 2>One thing about the jazz communities as really small. We

0:34:00.760 --> 0:34:03.000
<v Speaker 2>all know each other, you know. I always always joke,

0:34:03.160 --> 0:34:06.920
<v Speaker 2>partially joking that jazz musicians probably know at least fifty

0:34:06.960 --> 0:34:11.279
<v Speaker 2>percent audience personally, you know, And so everybody likes to

0:34:11.320 --> 0:34:14.640
<v Speaker 2>hang out backstage, other musicians show up, fans show up,

0:34:15.080 --> 0:34:18.520
<v Speaker 2>they all want to come backstage and hang. And I

0:34:18.560 --> 0:34:21.920
<v Speaker 2>have now realized that I'm not good to speak to

0:34:22.320 --> 0:34:26.120
<v Speaker 2>at least fifteen minutes before showtime, like leave me alone,

0:34:26.360 --> 0:34:29.319
<v Speaker 2>do not talk to me, don't come backstage to get

0:34:29.320 --> 0:34:31.400
<v Speaker 2>into it exactly. You know, I only want to be

0:34:31.440 --> 0:34:33.400
<v Speaker 2>around the musicians who are in the band, you know.

0:34:33.640 --> 0:34:35.719
<v Speaker 2>And the older I get, the more I realize how

0:34:35.760 --> 0:34:38.480
<v Speaker 2>important it is just to have a little silence, you know.

0:34:38.760 --> 0:34:41.279
<v Speaker 2>Just I don't want to do nothing, just I just

0:34:41.360 --> 0:34:44.320
<v Speaker 2>need some peace and quiet around me. Fifteen minutes before showtime.

0:34:45.160 --> 0:34:47.359
<v Speaker 1>You know, we wanted you to come on the show.

0:34:47.360 --> 0:34:48.880
<v Speaker 1>And then I like when we do the research. I

0:34:48.880 --> 0:34:51.279
<v Speaker 1>started to get more absorbed in the stuff. You are

0:34:51.360 --> 0:34:54.560
<v Speaker 1>so damn talented. Oh man, you are so damn talent

0:34:55.160 --> 0:34:56.640
<v Speaker 1>from you. I was watching that thing when you're talking

0:34:56.640 --> 0:34:58.959
<v Speaker 1>about a fast, playing you little tips of a fast.

0:34:59.280 --> 0:35:01.840
<v Speaker 1>I'm watching all these and as I'm watching you, and

0:35:01.880 --> 0:35:03.799
<v Speaker 1>I start watching more and more of these clips, I'm thinking,

0:35:04.000 --> 0:35:06.880
<v Speaker 1>there's nothing you can't do musically, There's nothing you can't do.

0:35:07.200 --> 0:35:09.960
<v Speaker 2>Thank you, thanks for coming, thanks for having me on,

0:35:10.080 --> 0:35:10.759
<v Speaker 2>and honor.

0:35:18.400 --> 0:35:22.600
<v Speaker 1>My thanks to Christian McBride be sure to check out

0:35:22.719 --> 0:35:27.080
<v Speaker 1>Christian McBride live at the Newport Jazz Festival August fourth

0:35:27.120 --> 0:35:31.040
<v Speaker 1>through sixth, and at the Montclair Jazz Festival Bloc Party

0:35:31.320 --> 0:35:35.760
<v Speaker 1>on August twelfth. For more upcoming shows, go to Christian

0:35:35.840 --> 0:35:39.600
<v Speaker 1>McBride dot com. I'll leave you with the Shade of

0:35:39.640 --> 0:35:44.239
<v Speaker 1>the Cedar Tree from Live at the Village Vanguard. I'm

0:35:44.239 --> 0:35:46.879
<v Speaker 1>Alec Baldwin. Here's the thing is brought to you by

0:35:46.960 --> 0:36:00.200
<v Speaker 1>iHeart Radio

0:36:02.600 --> 0:36:02.920
<v Speaker 2>Int.