Christian McBride's Grammy Acceptance Speech Goes Online
(MPG) Christian McBride won a GRAMMY Award for his Big Band album Without Further Ado, Vol 1 in the Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album category. Released last year via Mack Avenue Records, Without Further Ado, Vol 1 features McBride's esteemed Big Band with a star studded list of guests like Sting & Andy Summers, Samara Joy, Jeffery Osborne, Dianne Reeves, Jose James, Cecile McLorlin Salvant, and Antoinette Henry.
DownBeat praised the album as "a rewarding survey of the bassist's love for jazz, R&B and pop," and McBride performed the album's track "Back In Love Again" with Jeffrey Osborne on Jimmy Kimmel Live!. "Windows," McBride's collaboration with Chick Corea and Brian Blade from Corea's posthumous album Trilogy 3 also won a GRAMMY for Best Jazz Performance - Trilogy 3 is out now via Candid Records. The awards mark McBride's 10th and 11th GRAMMY wins.
"Since the release of The Good Feeling in 2011, the Christian McBride Big Band recordings have grown into everything we hoped they would be," says Mack Avenue President Denny Stilwell. "These are special records, and the guest vocalists featured on Without Further Ado, Vol 1 bring an exciting dimension to the project. This is the first volume of Without Further Ado, and we can't wait for everyone to experience Vol 2!"
Having played with artists ranging from Chick Corea and Wynton Marsalis to Billie Eilish and Celine Dion, several of McBride's artistic paths converge on Without Further Ado, Vol 1 creating an electrifying collection of reimagined classics and surprises. The inspiration and many of the arrangements for the album grew out of the annual NJPAC Gala, for which the Big Band served as house band and McBride as musical director since 2012. "We've always invited a bunch of great singers to come and perform at the Gala," McBride says, "and as musical director, I'm responsible for arranging all of the music. After so many years of writing big band charts for these incredible singers, I realized that I had stacks of music that had only been played once. This has been a fantastic opportunity to finally record some of these arrangements and to play them with some of my favorite singers."
If there is any doubt that we are living through a vocal jazz renaissance, the multi-generational line-up of singers McBride has assembled for Without Further Ado, Vol 1 definitively settles that debate. From five-time GRAMMY winner Samara Joy's breathtaking version of the jazz standard "Old Folks," to three-time GRAMMY winner Cecile Mclorin Salvant's burning, uptempo reinterpretation of Cole Porter's dreamy ballad "All Through The Night", Without Further Ado, Vol 1 is a vocal all-star game of new talent that's heightened by the elegance and fire of the Christian McBride Big Band.
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