Christian McBride’s New Jawn Releases Second Album, “Prime”
The masterful Christian McBride has released a second album with his New Jawn quartet called Prime. Even without the use of a traditional chordal instrument such as guitar or piano, the band covers a lot of ground harmonically, melodically, and texturally. That’s no surprise, given the lineup of drummer Nasheet Waits, trumpeter Josh Evans, and saxophonist/bass clarinetist Marcus Strickland.
“I think that all of us are at our prime as musicians,” McBride says of the album title. “No, I’ll think positive – we’re almost at our prime.”
Together the quartet tackles original songs from each member as well as tunes by Sonny Rollins, Ornette Coleman, and Larry Young.
While there is a wide variety of sounds throughout Prime, each song seems to be imbued with an edginess, driving towards something deep within the musicians. Its opening track, “Head Bedlam,” begins as a free jazz frenzy before dropping into a heavy funk groove, making it part Eric Dolphy, part James Brown.
McBride throws down some fiery bass lines accented with powerful double stops to fill things out on the title track.
Christian McBride and New Jawn’s Prime is available now on CD, vinyl and as a digital download (iTunes and Amazon MP3).. McBride is currently on tour with the band with other project performances scheduled later in the year. See below for the full dates.
Christian McBride’s New Jawn: Prime Track List:
- Head Bedlam
- Prime
- Moonchild
- Obsequious
- Lurkers
- The Good Life
- Dolphy Dust
- East Broadway Rundown
Christian McBride Tour Dates:
| Date | Location | Venue |
|---|---|---|
| Mar 21 | Minneapolis, MN | Dakota ~ |
| Mar 22 | Minneapolis, MN | Dakota ~ |
| Mar 23 | Chicago, IL | Constellation ~ |
| Mar 24 | Detroit, MI | Orchestra Hall ~ |
| Mar 28 | Geneva, NY | Smith Center for the Arts ~ |
| Mar 29 | Northampton, MA | BOMBYX Center for Arts and Equity ~ |
| Mar 30 | Wilmington, DE | Arden Gild Hall ~ |
| Mar 31 | Richmond, VA | Modlin Center for the Arts ~ |
| Apr 1 | Knoxville, TN | Big Ears Festival 2023 ~ |
| Apr 4 | New York, NY | Dizzys # |
| Apr 19 | Jönköping, Sweden | Kulturhuset Spira * |
| Apr 20 | Ystad, Sweden | Ystad Theatre * |
| Apr 21 | Vara, Sweden | Vara Concert Hall * |
| Apr 22 | Stockholm, Sweden | Fasching Jazz Club * |
| Apr 22 | Stockholm, Sweden | Fasching ^ |
| Apr 28 | Oakland, CA | Yoshi’s Jack London Square # |
| Apr 29 | Irvine, CA | Irvine Barclay Theatre ~ |
| May 5 | New Orleans, LA | New Orleans Jazzfest # |
| May 12 | Scottsdale, AZ | Scottsdale Center for the Performing Art # |
| Jul 17 | London, UK | Wigmore Hall ~ |
| Jul 22 | Aspen, CO | Jazz Aspen (with Edgar Meyer) |
| Nov 4 | Toronto, ON | Koerner Hall # |
| Nov 9 | Zapopan, MX | Conjunto de Artes Escenicas # |
| Nov 11 | Mexico City, MX | Centro Cultural Roberto Cantoral # |
+ Christian McBride & Inside Straight
* The Movement Revisited
~ Christian McBride’s New Jawn
^ solo with Bohuslän Big Band
