''Conversations with Christian'' is a studio album by American jazz bassist
Christian McBride
Christian McBride (born May 31, 1972) is an American jazz bassist, composer and arranger. He has appeared on more than 400 recordings as a sideman, and is a nine-time Grammy Award winner.
McBride has performed and recorded with a number of jaz ...
. It was released on via
Mack Avenue
Mack Avenue Records is an independent record label in Grosse Pointe Farms, Michigan.
Background
Mack Avenue was founded in 1999 by Gretchen Carhartt Valade, a jazz fan and chair of the American apparel company Carhartt. The company is a sponsor ...
label.
Background
This is the tenth album by McBride as a leader. The album is special because it consists of 13 tracks—each recorded as a duet with various popular musicians. The project began as podcasts in 2009, when McBride started interviewing his musical companions as well as playing some compositions meanwhile. The podcast eventually led to the bassist’s popular
Sirius-XM
Sirius XM Holdings Inc. is an American broadcasting corporation headquartered in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, that provides satellite radio and online radio services operating in the United States. The company was formed by the 2008 merger ...
radio show, ''The Lowdown: Conversations With Christian''.
Reception
Ken Dryden of
AllMusic
AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...
noted "Conversations with Christian is an unusual release, as it features the veteran bassist playing duets with a number of good friends. The vocal meetings include Angélique Kidjo, Sting, and Dee Dee Bridgewater (the latter with a hilarious, funky cover of
The Isley Brothers' signature song "It's Your Thing"). The pairings with musicians of McBride's generation (trumpeter Roy Hargrove, tenor saxophonist Ron Blake, and guitarist Russell Malone) all exceed expectations. There are several enjoyable duets with pianists, one featuring Latin jazz master Eddie Palmieri, a duo improvised tango by Chick Corea and the leader, plus an all too rare acoustic outing by the talented George Duke (who tears up the keyboard with his hard-charging "McDukey Blues")".
Chris Barton of ''
Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...
'' stated "This year marks another active one for McBride with September's rambunctious big-band album "The Good Feeling" and this month's "Conversations With Christian," a collection of duets that rose out of a 2009 podcast series of the same name. Full of loosely intimate interplay, the results sometimes recall the try-anything spirit of McBride's guest-heavy 2006 live album "
Live at Tonic".
''
The Buffalo News
''The Buffalo News'' is the daily newspaper of the Buffalo–Niagara Falls metropolitan area, located in downtown Buffalo, New York.
It was for decades the only paper fully owned by Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway. On January 29, 2020, th ...
'' review by Jeff Simon stated, "There's almost as much art on all this showing off as there is entertainment. It's a consistent delight -- though of several different kinds before it's over."
Track listing
Personnel
;Band
*Christian McBride – primary artist, producer
;Production
*Randall Kennedy – creative director
*André Kimo Stone Guess – associate producer
*Mat Lejeune – engineer
*Fernando Lodeiro – assistant engineer
Chart performance
References
External links
Christian McBride Discography
{{Authority control
2011 albums
Christian McBride albums
Mack Avenue Records albums