George Duke to Premiere Concerto for Christian McBride
How many people can say that George Duke wrote a symphonic jazz piece for them? Well, add Christian McBride to that list.
Duke, the legendary keyboardist/singer will be premiering the work, Concerto for Christian McBride, during a free performance on September 24th at UCLA with the Symphonic Jazz Orchestra and McBride himself.
Conducted by Mitch Glickman, the 67-piece orchestra will play along with a standard rhythm section while featuring the bassist. Duke spent the month of April writing the work.
“This is without a doubt the most comprehensive symphonic jazz composition I’ve written,” Duke says. “It is written for the full breadth of Christian’s talents including upright, fretless and electric basses. My central idea is to allow Christian the freedom to spontaneously create and at the same time have a cohesive composition with the orchestra. The piece includes a standard jazz rhythm section along with a full orchestra. The challenge was to have complete interplay between the orchestra and the jazz trio and allow the bass to speak throughout its range as the dominant soloist and melodic proponent.”
In his time with No Treble, Kevin has met hundreds of amazing bassists and interviewed icons like Jack Casady, Victor Wooten, Les Claypool, Marcus Miller, and more. He's a gigging bassist performing jazz in Northern Virginia and bluegrass with The Plate Scrapers up and down the East Coast. Kevin appreciates all genres of music, from R&B to metal and everything in between. Connect with Kevin on Facebook and check his performance schedule on his website.
