Christian McBride Teams Up With Sting for Charity
Bassist-Composer-Arranger-Educator Christian McBride is the man! He’s on 300+ recordings by other artists and 19 of his own albums. He’s won eight Grammy Awards, went to Julliard, ran the Los Angeles Philharmonic as “Creative Chair for Jazz” from 2006-2009 until replaced by Herbie Hancock. He currently leads five different groups, is the Artistic Director for the Newport Jazz Festival, hosts “Jazz Night In America” on National Public Radio, and can be seen in the upcoming documentary, The Jersey Sound.
With his wife Melissa Walker, he runs Jazz House Kids, a school in his Montclair hometown. On February 28, he will join pop star Sting at the Ralph Pucci International Showroom in New York City for an annual school fundraiser event called “The Lowdown: Conversations With Christian.” (Past guests have included Norah Jones, Diana Krall, Laurie Anderson, John Pizzarelli and Esperanza Spalding.)
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Managing and Artistic Director of Jazz At Lincoln Center Wynton Marsalis says, “Jazz House is deserving and worthy of support from all who wish to see an actual movement in the direction of excellence for our young people. Count me in that number.”
McBride: “I’m so glad Sting was able to join us…He is a dear friend of mine and someone full of knowledge and wisdom. I was honored to play bass on his album All This Time and in his touring band and look forward to playing with him again in February.” The two will jam and be joined by some students of the school during the event’s finale.