Terri Lyne Carrington Releases “Money Jungle: Provocative in Blue”, Featuring Christian McBride

by Kevin Johnson Thursday, February 7th, 2013

Drummer Terri Lyne Carrington has good taste in bassists, and her new album Money Jungle: Provocative in Blue is more evidence of that as she recruited Christian McBride to lay down the low end. The effort pays homage to the classic Duke Ellington album Money Jungle, which featured bassist Charles Mingus and drummer Max Roach, on its 50th anniversary.

“I had bought it on CD, from the discount bin in a music store,” Carrington shares. “I put it on in my car, and I immediately just felt something mysterious about it. There was just an energy that moved through the tracks. Duke and Charles and Max had a chemistry about them. There was this tension that you could hear, and yet they fit together like a hand in a glove.”

McBride is in full swing on the album with blistering solos and unstoppable groove. The interplay between Carrington, McBride, and pianist Gerald Clayton forms the foundation for the project.

“Christian is the perfect person to play the role of a modern day Mingus, with his sound on the instrument, his facility on the instrument, and his feel,” Carrington explained. “I really wanted him to be himself, but also try some new things. I thought the combination of Gerald and Christian was really strong.”

While the album is trio based, it also ventures into new territory with fuller arrangements and two original songs. Other musicians on the album include trombonist Robin Eubanks, saxophonist Tia Fuller, Antonio Hart on flute, vocalists Lizz Wright and Shea Rose, guitarist Nir Felder, percussionist Arturo Stable, and trumpeter Clark Terry. Jazz legend Herbie Hancock also lends his voice to the album to read Duke Ellington Quotes on the closing track “Rem Blues/Music.”